Drops of Jupiter
by jollygreendragon
Summary: Post-DD, MatthewxSveta. Starts a few months after the events of Dark Dawn, and introduces an epic new adventure that involves almost every character in the series. Complicated and broad, but if you like an in-depth story, this is for you! COMPLETE FOR REAL
1. Misgivings

_**This story contains major spoilers and assumes you have completed the main storyline in Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. **_

_**And I mean, if you haven't beaten it then you probably don't get the rationale for Matt/Sveta anyway.**_

_**Also, apologies for the slow start - I didn't have a plot in mind until about chapter 4 or 5. But that's also when the story starts to take off! I recommend you stick with it until then.**_

_**I hope you enjoy it!**_

* * *

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, and as such, NONE of the following story belongs to me. It belongs to them. Hell, if they wanted to, they could just take it word-for-word and publish it as their own thing, I wouldn't care. Consider this a statement that I'm voiding my right to sue them over copyright infringement or WHATEVER. I'd actually love to see bits of the Golden Sun universe with a more mature/intellectual bent anyway...  
**

* * *

Matthew stood awkwardly in the entryway of Belinsk Castle.

One of the beastmen in the hall - a squirrel in a waiter's outfit - addressed him. "The Queen will be with you momentarily, sir! She's just changing - her royal vestments are not considered proper clothing for an informal meeting!"

Matthew nodded. He looked around, and, one of the beastman courtiers sensing his intent, directed him to a seating area. He sat down on one of the plush, velvet chairs and waited.

He hadn't told Sveta - Queen Sveta, he corrected himself - that he'd be coming. As far as he knew, she was still settling into her newfound royal duties; she had been crowned shortly before their last meeting, and that had only been a few short weeks ago. He had overheard a small amount of conversation in the streets as he had entered, and from the sound of it, she had been set to make a royal address today; it had been postponed for some reason, however, and no one was quite sure why.

Matthew was idly nervous. On the one hand, this was his first time seeing her since they had parted ways shortly after the end of the Eclipse. Matthew was naturally somewhat shy, a trait he inherited from his father's side, and he anticipated a change in Sveta's behavior since she had been granted her higher station. On the other hand, however, he was worried about the subject he had to broach - that of the Psynergy Vortexes.

After returning to their Mt Aleph home, Matthew, Tyrell and Karis had noticed an immense Vortex over the ruins of Sol Sanctum. The nature of the Vortexes was not yet fully understood, but it was agreed that the location could not have been a coincidence. After conferring with Isaac and Garet, the decision was made to split the group. No one knew how many more of the Psynergy Vortexes had appeared, or where they were, so while the adults went to investigate the Sol Sanctum vortex more closely, Matthew, Tyrell and Karis were going to gather information in different areas around the continent.

Before leaving, however, Kraden himself appeared at Goma Plateau. After speaking with Ivan, who had also been studying the vortexes, Kraden had prepared a letter to give to Matthew to deliver to Belinsk.

The letter was intended to warn Sveta of the untested effects of Psynergy Vortexes on the beastman race.

Vortexes had been confirmed to have negative effects on Adepts in the past, temporarily draining their powers before adversely affecting their health. Kraden theorized that the Vortexes attacked psynergy in some manner. It naturally followed that beastmen, a species that first cropped up officially after exposure to the Golden Sun's power, could be in even more danger of a Vortex's effects than any regular Adept.

Matthew read over Kraden's letter, pondering the implications. What if Sveta had cancelled her royal address because a Vortex had been discovered? Even worse, what if she was too sick from Vortex exposure to be seen in front of a crowd? He began to tap his foot impatiently and run his fingers together. She HAD been taking a very long time.

* * *

After what seemed like an eternity, Matthew finally heard voices coming down the hallway to his left. He couldn't see from where he was sitting, so he stood and began walking toward the doorway. _Wait, no, _Matthew thought. _Don't want to seem too impatient. Sit back down... uh, wait, the squirrel butler guy is still there. Just... just stand. Stand there. Good._ By this point, the voices were loud enough that Matthew could distinguish what was being said.

"Your Highness, our nation's food stockpiles are still running very low! We need to begin trading if we are to survive!"

"My Queen, you still need to hold a public funeral service for the victims of the Eclipse!"

"If it pleases Your Majesty, our chefs await your request for tonight's meal! It will take some time to prepare, so they would like plenty of notice!"

"STOP! Please. All of you." Sveta. "We have already sent a request for aid to all neighboring cities. Port Rago and Kolima have already promised to provide whatever aid they can. The public funeral will have to wait until Belinsk has regained its footing. And please tell our cooks to STOP PREPARING GRAND FEASTS! We cannot afford five-course meals when our farms are ruined and we barely have anyone left to harvest them as-is!"

The third voice began speaking again. "B-but Your Highness, you are entitled to more food! You ARE the most important person in the kingdom-"

Sveta interrupted. "I am NOT the most important person! The important ones are those out there, trying their best to rebuild our lands after the tragedy that befell half the world! If the cooks must prepare feasts, let us allow public access rather than letting all of that food go to waste."

Sveta came through the door at last. "The people of Belinsk need support more than I. If anyone needs a grand feast, it is..."

She turned and noticed Matthew standing there. "...Matthew? What... It is good to see you, but what are you doing here?"

Matthew looked at her in confusion. He then looked at the squirrel who had met him at the entryway. The fellow was looking very nervous, and he immediately began chattering to another courtier. The other beastman - a fox, this one - ran off.

The squirrel spoke up. "Forgive me, Queen Sveta, but someone had been dispatched to inform you of Sir Matthew's arrival! He bears important news for your Royal ears only. The messenger who failed to reach you will be dealt with-"

Sveta held up a hand to silence him. "Do nothing to harm him. He probably thought I was in my quarters, as I had _planned to be._" As she said this, she passed a look over the three who had been hounding her (one of them literally a hound). "However, several matters arose that apparently demanded my attention. The one I am currently pursuing, however, can wait."

Sveta turned to Matthew. "Thank you for coming. Shall we reconvene in my quarters?" She spared a glance at her advisors. "Privately?"

Now that she had turned to face him, however, Matthew was having trouble finding his words. She was wearing a gorgeous white dress with purple filigree, a necklace with a large ruby in the centre, and a sparkling silver tiara on her head. A far cry from the modest monk's trimmings she had worn for the majority of their travels, to say the least! Matthew blushed, and quickly nodded.

Sveta noticed his gaze and looked down, apparently just now remembering that she was wearing her royal garments. She blushed as well, a deep red that complemented her necklace. Her ears twitched. "Perhaps I should change first. Umm..." She scratched the back of her head. "Nevermind. I would not keep you waiting longer than you already have been. I will show you the way to my chambers."

Her third advisor, the hound, stood ramrod-straight. "I will go inform the head chef to begin preparing the feast you requested for Sir Matthew!" He immediately turned and left.

Sveta held out a hand and called out to the hound. "Wait, that is not what I...! Oh, dear. Umm, alright. Thank you, everyone. You are dismissed. N-Not you, Matthew! Come with me. _Please_." As Sveta's court filed out of the room, she gestured to Matthew. As he followed her, watching her long braids sway with her hips - _No! Stop. Look elsewhere. Up. _- watching her walk just a little too quickly up to her quarters, he noticed her hands balled tightly into fists. Sveta had never been one to lose her composure, but it was obvious that she was nearing her limits.

* * *

As they came to a door at the end of a hallway, Sveta stopped. "Thank you for coming, Matthew." She took out a key, unlocked the door, and opened it. "After you." Matthew stepped through the portal. He looked around for a moment at the lavish trimmings, and then stepped aside so Sveta could enter.

She closed the door behind her, locked it again, and placed the key on a nearby cabinet. She took a deep breath in, and exhaled. She then walked over to Matthew and threw her arms around him.

"Thank you. _Thank you so much. _I needed desperately to see a friendly face again. I am afraid I am not quite used to the duties of a Queen yet."

Matthew returned the hug, perhaps a little more gingerly than before. Remembering Sveta's mindreading abilities, he tried very hard to focus on her words to the exclusion of all else. Even so, he detected the slightest hint of perfume, and the warm embrace brought memories rushing back to his mind of the battle atop the Apollo Lens - catching Sveta as she was knocked off the massive weapon, watching her transformed brother activating the Lens, feeling her tears as she cried into his shoulder, knowing that her brother had just given his own life to save hers and the lives of many others.

Sveta continued. "Volecheck was always the stronger leader of the two of us. I am at least thankful that there was a strong foundation in place when I took the throne. But I worry that Belinsk will not remain prosperous for very much longer." She moved back a step and held Matthew at arms' length. "Please do not speak of this to anyone, of course, but I have no confidence in my ability to lead whatsoever. You have seen already the chaos that has arisen during the few weeks I have held this responsibility."

Sveta walked to a table that sat in the corner of her room. She pulled out a chair, and motioned for Matthew to sit at its twin. "I am sorry that you had to see that... display downstairs. It is unfortunately always like this. In the wake of the Eclipse, some staff had to be replaced. Some of my faculty is inexperienced. The rest... well, some could be said to be TOO experienced. I hope it evens out, but at this point, I just do not know."

She removed her tiara and set it aside. Then she let her face sink into her hands. "Have I helped you save my kingdom, only to let it rot at my own hands? Things used to be so... simple."

Matthew put a comforting hand on her shoulder. Sveta took her face from her hands and gave him a sad smile. "I wish Volecheck was still here. I am not the right person to rule Belinsk. I cannot believe I am destined to be a queen. And after our adventures..." She looked away. "I would be lying if I told you I preferred the safety of my castle to the mystery of the wide world."

Her eyes snapped open. "Oh, but of course! You must have come for a reason, even if it was just to visit. What did you have in mind?" Sveta gave Matthew a broad smile that faltered for a moment when she saw his unsure expression.

Matthew scratched his head. Did he really want to give her even more to think about? If she hadn't encountered the Vortexes yet, did he really need to bother her with the details? He sighed. Better safe than sorry, he thought. He pulled Kraden's letter from his pocket and handed it to her.

Sveta's face fell and her ears drooped slightly. "This is not good news, is it?" She looked at the letter. "From Kraden? ...Oh. I believe I recall one of the four of you mentioning these Psynergy Vortexes at one point in our travels. The thought that more of them may be appearing is... disconcerting, to say the least. And he is right - the beastmen are people deeply connected to the flow of psynergy, and if they can drain an Adept's powers, even temporarily..." Her voice trailed off.

Sveta put the letter down. "Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Matthew. I will be sure to put the word out." She was silent in thought for a moment.

Matthew looked at her. She was still wearing her royal gown and necklace, but her expression tore at him inside. It hurt to know that he had just made her problems even worse. They had parted on such good terms, complacent in the knowledge that they had averted a major disaster. How could he have known that her life would have fallen so far in such a short time?

As he watched her face, a single tear fell from her eye. He traced its path as it ran down her face. He flashed back again to that moment atop the Apollo Lens, holding her as she cried tears of loss, of despair. At the back of his mind, he wanted to be holding her again, doing his best to comfort her in the midst of all this chaos. His eyes took their own course, looking again along the folds of her dress...

...And then he noticed a distortion at the edge of his vision. Or, more accurately, felt one. Sveta was blushing again, her ears twitching. Realization dawned on Matthew that they had been silent for at least a full minute. He blushed and cleared his throat to hide the panic he was feeling at the thought that maybe, just maybe, Sveta had just...

"I-I am sorry... you have told me that you do not wish to have your mind read," Sveta stammered. "I just... it is so hard to get a response from you sometimes, and I..."

Matthew stood up silently, suddenly very eager to be anywhere but here.

Sveta started after him. "No! Wait. I... umm, I appreciate your concern. About my well-being as queen, I mean. Thank you for visiting. I would appreciate if you would stay longer, and if you do not already have a place at the inn, I am sure I can find a room to accommodate you here!"

Matthew looked back, still somewhat embarrassed. She was his friend, of course. He had never meant to think about her in _that _way. It was an accident. And if she still needed company, why, of course he wanted nothing more than to stay nearby! That was what friends were for.

He opened his mouth, but no words came out.

Sveta looked at him. Matthew looked back at her. Sveta coughed. "If you really would prefer that I stop reading your mind, you may want to speak up once in a while." She gave a light smile. "I know you are not the most talkative, but... I want to hear about you sometimes, too. It is selfish of me to always go on and on about my own troubles."

Matthew smiled slightly, but didn't say anything. What was there to say?

Sveta laughed. "Alright, then. If you need to, umm, collect your thoughts... we can reconvene later. I think that a feast is being prepared in your honor. I am... not sure about that." She smiled. "But again, if you need accommodation, you can probably speak to Mr. Bentley. He is the squirrel fellow you met in the lobby. He knows the castle's capacity much better than I, and it would probably be better if he knew exactly where you were staying, too."

She walked over and picked up her room key again. She unlocked the door and opened it. "Thank you again for visiting, Matthew, even if it was not just to be friendly. And even though... umm... I am very, very sorry for reading your mind, I promise to dress more conservatively when we meet for dinner. You do want to meet for dinner, right? If not, we can... umm... I..."

Matthew smiled and nodded. He took a step toward the door.

"Of course! I did not mean to keep you. I, umm... thank you, goodbye!" Matthew walked out and Sveta closed the door behind him.

* * *

After he was sure the door was safely closed, Matthew smacked himself on the head several times. _Stupid, stupid! You know she's a Jupiter Adept, and a beastwoman at that. She can read the minds of the _dead, _stupid. She'd have no trouble sorting through yours. Be more careful next time! What if things get really awkward now? Why did you even do that? _

He began the walk down the hallway. Why HAD his thoughts led in that direction? Matthew and Sveta had been close on their journeys, of course. All 8 of them had been, to some extent. Close friends. He had never thought of Sveta as anything more than a friend, though. Had he? Had _she?_

His thoughts flashed back to the Apollo Lens once more. Their spirits had been intertwined for a short while as he gave her the strength she needed to climb the Lens and activate it. And... it had felt right. It just made sense. Of course, he had never done that with anyone in the past, but he wondered to himself: if it had been anyone else, would he have been ready to make the same sacrifice? He honestly wasn't sure.

He would have a lot to think about, he realized. He went to search for the squirrelman in the front hallway. And to think, he hadn't even been planning to stay in Belinsk overnight. Who knew where this would lead? Maybe nowhere, he thought to himself. But... she hadn't said no, had she?

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES_

_I don't consider myself to be a Spiritshipper, but this is one pairing I just can't help but love. And, I mean... it's like shipping James Bond and whatever female sidekick he meets. You just know it's going to happen._

_This is also my first fic that deals with anything approaching romance. I would love to hear any criticism you have, and I'm sure that I'll be able to read every review I get. Tell me if I to something wrong, if I misspell anything, or even if you just don't like how it's progressing. I wouldn't be posting this online if I intended to keep it to myself._

_I put Adventure in the genre for this story as well because to be honest I don't know quite where I'll take it. I had an idea midway through that I might check out, just to see where it leads._

_Apologies for the puntastic name, but I couldn't help myself. And yeah... I know that it sounds more like an erotic IvanxAnyone fanfiction than a Sveta-centric story. At least the lyrics of the song (Drops of Jupiter, I mean) somewhat lend themselves to a story like this, if you squint and tilt your head._

_Especially this line:_

_"And tell me, did Venus blow your mind?_  
_Was it everything you wanted to find?_  
_And then you missed me_  
_While you were looking for yourself out there?"_


	2. High Hopes

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, and as a result, every little bit of the following story belongs to them, not me. If you are associated with Nintendo and/or Camelot, then by all means, take every bit of this story and claim it as your own. Take the credit. I seriously won't take offense. Just don't sue me over it.  
**

* * *

After some searching, Matthew finally found Bentley in a room to the side of the front hallway. He didn't seem to be doing anything useful, but he was certainly trying to LOOK busy. He was carefully arranging and re-arranging various decorations scattered around the room. Try as he might, Matthew could not identify the purpose of the room - a trophy room? A meeting area? Or just to show off?

Matthew walked into the room and, standing awkwardly for a moment, cleared his throat to grab the squirrelman's attention.

"Oh! Sir Matthew, I presume you have finished your conversation with Her Highness?" Matthew nodded, and Bentley continued. "Well, if there is a feast being prepared for you, then I can only assume you will be a guest of ours for a short while longer! If you are in need of accommodations, we actually have a room made up already. We received word recently that the Bilibin ambassador had to cancel her planned stay with us, so the ambassador's suite is free, if that is to your liking!" Again, Matthew smiled and nodded. "Wonderful," Bentley said. "This way, sir, if you will!"

Apparently forgetting about the bauble he was idly moving from place to place, Bentley hurried out into the castle's main hall. The ambassador's suite was nowhere near the castle's main thoroughfare; unlike Sveta's room, the path to Matthew's guest room was through many twists and turns. The castle of Belinsk was really quite massive. Even with a sense of direction honed by plenty of adventuring experience, Matthew wondered if he would be able to find his way back out once he had unpacked.

When they reached the room, Bentley gave Matthew the key and then excused himself. Matthew walked in. The room was large relative to what he was used to (though his experience was limited to inns and his own household), but still smaller than the royal quarters. He unpacked what little equipment he had - his father had always taught him to pack light - and changed into a new set of clothes.

Once he had changed, he decided to take a moment to think about what had happened earlier in Sveta's room.

So, he had found himself admiring Sveta a little too closely. And at the time, he found himself wanting a little more physical contact. Sveta had read some of this, but Matthew wasn't sure how much. She would make her own conclusions, but at this point, he was still trying to figure out for himself what was going on.

The idea that maybe - _maybe_ - Matthew might have some feelings for Sveta hadn't occurred to him before. What had changed since then?

There had also been a few weeks of separation. Maybe he was just happy to see his friend again after that amount of time? No, probably not... Matthew didn't consider himself the kind of guy to get hot and bothered about his friends, of course. And he was certain - what he had felt a short while ago had been more than platonic.

What about power, or pity? Sveta was queen now. She was troubled by all of her responsibilities, and worried about how well she was fulfilling them. Matthew wondered if he had been taken in by the fact that she was now royalty - he desperately hoped he wasn't that shallow - and then if it was just a protective instinct. Well, probably not... his gaze HAD dropped a little lower than he usually let it, and that was back before she laid her soul bare for him.

Well, there go all of the exclusions, Matthew thought to himself. He moved onto the next step of his tried-and-true problem solving process, and listed the support for the idea that he, uhm, had a massive crush on Sveta.

Firstly, she was beautiful. Nonhuman, true, but human enough that the differences simply made her more exotic. She was naturally talented, athletic, well-spoken, and had quite the figure. And geez, those ears! The way they drooped when she was sad, the way they perked up when she was alert, the way they twitched when she was nervous...

Matthew caught himself. Okay, apparently he was prone to getting lost in thoughts about how _amazing_ she looked. That was pretty overwhelming evidence right there.

But even more than that, they got along great together. Their personalities matched, and even though Matthew wasn't much of a talker, they seemed to communicate pretty well. Sveta's mindreading probably helped with that, he conceded.

_I guess I'm sort of head-over-heels for her, _Matthew decided. _So what do I do about it?_

Wait until dinner, of course. Let her make her own decisions about... well, whatever she read in his mind. Matthew hoped desperately that what she read was the least creepy part. He hadn't been watching what he was thinking very closely at the time - who knows what he could've been going on about?

At least a relationship between them would be beneficial, he decided. He'd be able to help her sort out Belinsk, and by extension the entire kingdom of Morgal. But what about the Psynergy Vortex issue? That was what he had originally come out here for. He couldn't take her with him... she was needed at the head of the kingdom. He could go alone, but he _wouldn't. _If they began a relationship... well, her in the castle, him in the field... Matthew's thoughts drifted to his parents, Isaac and Jenna. He clenched his fists and decided he wouldn't repeat their mistakes.

_Well, screw it_, he thought. _If it comes to that, I'll just send a letter to the rest of the group saying I'm sitting this one out. Let the world sort itself out for once. _

_But I'm getting ahead of myself._

Matthew stood up and decided he had spent enough time staring at the floor - there was still plenty of time before dinner, so it was time to explore the castle and get his bearings.

* * *

Belinsk Castle existed in a kind of ordered chaos. There were no messes to clean up, nothing particularly untidy... the layout itself was what needed a good look. This had to be a recent problem, too. Many rooms showed signs of damage from shadow creatures, and several had been converted to serve alternate purposes for the event, still to be converted back. One particularly bizarre room was literally half triage, half library, split straight down the middle with books on one side and medical equipment on the other.

But the strangest thing was how empty the huge castle was. Matthew had been here before when Volechek was still in power, and he remembered how busy it had seemed. Everyone had a job to do, and everyone was always rushing around trying to get it done as efficiently as possible. In his search today, Matthew had run into four, maybe five castle staff. Obviously, Belinsk must have been hit harder than most other places by the Grave Eclipse, and those most likely to survive would have been soldiers and guards.

It was entirely likely that the castle was so understaffed because no one was alive to fill the empty positions.

As Matthew swept this sobering thought out of his head, he passed an equipment room where two servants were talking. Normally he would have paid this no mind, but a snippet of their conversation grabbed his ear:

"Hey, did you hear about what's going on in northern Gondowan?"

Matthew stopped in his tracks. Then he kept walking a little past the door, looked in both directions down the hallway, and stopped close enough to eavesdrop.

"Not really, why do you ask?"

"Well, apparently some huge black hole thing appeared up there. Somebody came into town and the rumor spread like crazy. Apparently he saw several more on the way here, too!"

"Really? Where?"

"Well, there was one in Carver's Camp, and..."

"No, where's the big one? I wanna hear about the big one."

"Oh! Right near that lighthouse, apparently! You know, the one the Warriors of Vale had to activate?"

"Ooh, I LOVE that story! Which one?"

"Well, you know the part where Isaac and his friends finally defeated the villains, and Felix performed his daring jump to save Sheba..."

The two started off on a tangent, but Matthew had heard enough. It sounded like a psynergy vortex had appeared right near Venus Lighthouse... and a big one at that. What if it interfered with the lighthouse's functioning? What if it somehow sealed off earth psynergy, undoing everything his parents had worked for?

There hadn't been any reports of vortexes in Morgal, but apparently Matthew wasn't allowed to relax yet. This new vortex could threaten the balance of the entire world, and that meant that it took priority over everything... especially his personal life.

Matthew gritted his teeth and grumbled to himself. Being a hero _sucked._

* * *

When the dinner bell finally rang, Matthew's mood hadn't improved one bit. If anything, it had worsened with time. It just felt so contrived, so unfair, that his little scouting-mission could become world-threatening the moment he had set his eyes on anything (anyone) unrelated to the matters at hand. Oh, and he couldn't really sit it out this time, not with the vortex so close to Kalay. His dad would be expecting him back to look into it any day now, and if Matthew sent word home that he'd be skipping it out to court a demihuman queen, well, wouldn't that be quite the source of gossip?

By the time Matthew reached the dining hall, the long table spanning the center of the massive room was already mostly full. There were plenty of empty spots, he noticed. But at the head of the table was a seat reserved for him, right next to Queen Sveta herself. Matthew caught his reflection in one of the many shiny objects scattered around the room, adjusted his shirt slightly, and then put on a smile that was somewhat at odds with his current state of mind.

He didn't know what to expect when he sat down, but when Sveta noticed him, she smiled and waved happily. No hesitation or wariness - that was reassuring. As she had promised, she was dressed less regally as before; her outfit was much closer to her traveling clothes, but she also still wore the silver tiara; Matthew supposed it was part of the royal "image" she had to maintain. His spirits improved as he walked over and took the seat next to her.

"Mr. Bentley told me that he has placed you in the ambassador's suite. I hope it is to your liking... it certainly stands above a night out in sleeping bags, in my opinion!" Sveta had made a joke. More reassuring! _Or am I just overanalyzing? Okay, stop thinking so hard. _Matthew smiled and nodded.

After helping himself to some of the food piled up along the middle of the table, Matthew looked over to try to copy what Sveta was doing - he had never really been taught table manners appropriate for fine dining - but she wasn't eating. She had food on her plate, but she wasn't doing anything with it. He looked at her with a look of confusion on his face. Noticing his expression, Sveta looked around quickly to see if anyone was listening in. When it was clear everyone within earshot was deep in their own conversations, she began speaking.

"Matthew, I... gave some thought to, umm, what I read this morning. I apologize again, by the way, but sometimes it is the only way to get a clear idea of what you are thinking. In any case... you are concerned for my people. Almost as much as I am, it seems.

"This will probably be the last grand feast this dining hall will see for quite some time, unless it is made as a public service instead of a royal privilege. The beastmen of Morgal were once slaves of Sana, did you know? Very recently, too. It was not a long-lasting enslavement, of course, but it remains clear in the minds of those who went through it. And since then, there has been a lot effort put into making sure that everyone is compensated for the work they do. It makes it... difficult to convince many people to put in the extra effort Belinsk needs to return to its former glory.

"When the royal family was chosen after the old rulers were thrown out, my family was selected by virtue of our talents with psynergy. That is the only real reason. It was purely by luck that my father and Volechek had any leadership ability at all. I do not believe I inherited this trait. It is a massive responsibility, that which I now hold, and though I do my best to fulfill it... I am not sure I will be able to.

"I guess what I'm saying is... I am glad you are here, even if it is only for a short while. You have improved my spirits, and helped give me confidence just by your being here."

Sveta became silent for a moment. Matthew smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. She jumped slightly at the contact, but smiled back at him and then began eating. Matthew followed suit.

"You know, Matthew... it sure is hard to judge your reaction when you do not actually say anything," Sveta said, laughing slightly.

He blushed. He finished what was in his mouth. He then cleared his throat, and after some deliberation, said "Okay... thanks."

Sveta looked at him with some surprise at the audible response, and her smile broadened considerably.

* * *

When dinner ended, Sveta left Matthew with an invitation to meet her in her room again; she wanted to discuss something with him privately. He returned to his room again, tidied up after dinner, and then, lost in thought about what he hoped the "discussion" would involve, made his way upstairs to her quarters. He knocked on her door twice, and then stood outside with a smile on his face. When she answered it, he made absolutely sure to keep his thoughts in order. He could detect the use of psynergy, as could all adepts, but he wanted to be extra-careful this time.

Sveta unlocked the door and opened it. "Ah, Matthew! Thank you for coming. Please, take a seat." She motioned to the table and chairs they had sat at before." Matthew walked in and sat down as before. Once he entered, she closed and locked the door behind him. She then took the chair opposite him.

"Obviously I could not speak freely at dinner. There are several things that I... could have said, but did not, that would have caught someone's attention. But I did tell you the essence of what I have been thinking. I thank you for your support. You being here... it lifts my spirits. And it saddens me that you will be leaving so soon."

Sveta paused, her ears flattened to the sides of her head, and she took a breath before continuing. "Belinsk still needs a king, after all."

Matthew sat straight up. He hadn't been expecting this, not one bit.

Sveta noticed his reaction with little surprise. "I know it may seem somewhat forward. I apologize. And what's more... I apologize for what I almost did. I was considering using you, Matthew. I was considering leading you on, forcing you to marry me, and then using you to help me restore Belinsk. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that it was not how I wanted things to be.

"You are a friend, Matthew. Perhaps... more than that. I cannot say. We were always close, I think. During our travels... you were not the first thing on my mind. But you may have been the second, or third. Love was not a concern then. Now it comes to the forefront and I cannot make a decision.

"I am the queen, Matthew. It is me. In my position, marriage is supposed to be a commodity used to forge relationships with other kingdoms. In my position as a beastwoman, particularly, it would be... looked harshly upon if I fell in love with a human who was not even royal. But I admit that following the traditional way is looking... unattractive to me now.

"I just felt you should know. If you leave again, we will be happy to have you back again. And... if you decide to stay..." Sveta trailed off, but the smile on her face said the rest.

Staying here in Belinsk with Sveta? Matthew sat in his chair, his expression neutral. He wanted to. He wanted to badly. But then, what about the fate of the world? What about the long-haired man? He had to go, for everyone's sake. And what if he didn't return? Adventuring had its risks. He put his face into his hands.

Sveta's smile faded. "Oh... well, if you didn't want to, then... I apologize-"

"No."

Sveta jumped. Matthew took his face from his hands and looked at her. "No. That's not what I meant."

Now Sveta was the speechless one.

"It's just not fair. Life isn't fair. The world isn't fair. Do you know why I came out here to give you Kraden's letter? Because I wanted to see you again. And because I was worried about you. The implications... what if a vortex had appeared near Belinsk? What if you had been a victim? I couldn't stand it. And the danger's still there. We need to find the source, and we need to cut it off, make sure they never appear again. And apparently, a massive one just appeared near Venus Lighthouse. I don't need to tell you what'll happen if the lighthouse is damaged in some way by a psynergy-draining entity."

By this point, Matthew was pacing as he was talking. "I need to go, or I need to find someone I can trust to replace me. But I don't want to let the others down, and I'm the only person who knows about this lead. I can't just let it die. But at the same time, I don't want to go. Because I don't want to leave you alone.

"I realized today, Sveta, that I've had feelings for you for about as long as I've known you, and I don't want to lose that. But I don't want to harm your image, or bring any disgrace upon your lineage, or anything along those lines. And if you... if you need to marry someone else so that Belinsk will survive, I understand that. But I'd like a little warning, okay? I don't want to leave because I worry I'll miss my chance." Matthew's speech slowed almost to a stop. "I don't know if I could take that." He sat down again.

Sveta's eyes were watering. "Matthew, I... I did not know..."

But Matthew was silent again. He just looked at her, face neutral, and nodded.

Sveta brought a hand to her mouth, unsure of what to do. Then she looked at him, his eyes downcast, for a moment before making a decision.

She reached across the table, took his head in her hands, and kissed him on the lips. He was stunned for an instant, but returned it once he realized what was happening. No, it wasn't a dream. It was as real as could be.

They stayed there for a short while, neither wanting the moment to end. But eventually they both pulled back and looked deep into each other's eyes. Sveta spoke. "Thank you. Thank you for speaking your mind. You have a nice voice, you should use it more." She smiled at him and he smiled back.

"I'll see what I can do," Matthew said.

They both paused, just watching each other for a while. Eventually, Sveta broke the reverie. "If you feel you must go, then go. The world comes first, as always. But... I will do my best to wait for you."

She stood up from her chair and walked to the door. "Feel free to stay as long as you wish in the ambassador's suite. Please say goodbye to me before you go, of course, and... hurry back." She unlocked the door again, and Matthew stood and exited.

As he took a step out of Sveta's room, he gave her his traditional smile. She smiled back. "Matthew, I... thank you. Thank you for everything."

He nodded, began to walk away, then thought better. He stopped, looked at her, and cleared his throat. "Uh... sure. Thank you." He blushed and began the walk back to his room.

Sveta watched him as he left, more than content at the night's events. Once he was out of eyesight, she closed the door to her room and locked it again.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES_

_Holy crap, guys, that's like 4 reviews already! I wasn't expecting to get even one until I had at least 3 chapters posted. Thanks so much!_

_To answer a few questions, no, Matthew is not mute in this story (obvious now), he's just sort of quiet. My headcanon is that Isaac was the same way - supershy, but at some point between Venus and Jupiter lighthouses he just came out of his shell. Felix... uh, he was determined or something? He was too focused on his goal to talk. Yeah, that's it._

_But yeah, Matthew's hopefully going to be less and less mute as the story goes on._

_Thanks for the criticisms, too. I had an earlier version of this chapter that I wrote, but it ended up being horrifyingly angsty because I was in a bit of a mood when I wrote it. I ended up scrapping everything but the first few paragraphs and the end result is what you see before you, which I am significantly more satisfied with. It's a bit sappy but I toned down the hopeless teenage angst and tried to eliminate as much fluffiness as possible._

_Apologies to the people who were hoping for a bit more of the political intrigue/realism stuff, but I really needed to get the main plot(s) going. Yes, Sveta does feel the same way about Matthew as he does about her. And yes, my original plan for the story was to have her obviously lead him on (obvious to everyone but him of course) until she realized that she wasn't faking and then they got all smoochy, but I decided that it would be out of character for Sveta. She has proven (canonically) to be loyal to her kingdom above almost all else, but I couldn't imagine her lying about something as serious as a relationship for long._


	3. Troubleshooting

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, guys, not me. I'm just a lowly fanfiction writer. They can take any or all parts of this and do whatever they want without giving me credit. I'm fine with it.**

* * *

Matthew woke up after a long and fulfilling sleep. At first, he wondered if the previous day's events had only been a wonderful dream, but no - he was still in the ambassador's suite, where he had returned after talking with Sveta. Well, not just _talking,_ of course. That was the least enjoyable part.

It hadn't been Matthew's first kiss, no; he had lived in Kalay until he was about thirteen, and he had a very short fling with a village girl before he had to leave. But that didn't really count as much; the two never got anywhere, and to be honest, he couldn't really remember her name anymore. He had never had a serious relationship before. Living on Goma Plateau in the only house within miles made that sort of difficult.

So the thought that he might have a chance - just a chance - at being with someone that he knew and trusted as well as Sveta made his heart leap.

He was in no way anxious about leaving, but hopefully this trip wouldn't take long. He could go back home, tell his father that Morgal was vortex-free for the time being, and then head to Gondowan to investigate this new disturbance. Maybe he could even visit his mom at Kalay on the way. He liked seeing her, even though opportunities didn't come by very often.

He got dressed and went upstairs to visit Sveta as promised, but she wasn't in her room; she had already gone down to the dining hall for breakfast. When Matthew arrived, it was empty but for Sveta herself; there was a place set across from her for Matthew, too, and each seat had a small (but still certainly above-average) meal prepared. She noticed him and smiled broadly. Matthew raised a hand in greeting, smiling back, and went to take his seat.

"Slept in, I see? That is fine. It is important to be well-rested for a long trip such as the one you are about to embark on. The food in front of you is the only course, though. I have instructed the cooks to be somewhat more sparing in their portions. But that does mean that we won't be interrupted until we are finished, so we can talk privately in here if you wish." Sveta seemed significantly less stressed than she had been the day before. Perhaps having a goal in mind had put her at ease?

Matthew nodded. He put down his fork, having only eaten a few bites, and began speaking in somewhat of a hushed tone. "So... what should we do? Do we make it known, do we make it official? Or do you have any reservations about that?"

Sveta smiled meekly. "Well... there are two things you should know about the citizens of Belinsk. The first is that while they are very friendly and generous, especially with visitors, they are not particularly open about their opinions. I am not sure if you have noticed, but the average citizen is unwilling to admit anything is wrong at all until it gets to beyond the breaking point. That is part of the reason why everyone seems so happy; no one will complain until they have to. It's actually part of the reason why the slave uprising 20 years ago was so effective... no one knew it would happen until it did, not even us.

"The second is that Belinsk has been on the verge of war with the only two non-beastman kingdoms nearby for a very long time. While everyone does appreciate what you and the rest of the group has done for our people... well, they loved you as visitors and they loved you as heroes. If you were a permanent fixture, especially one attached to their royal family... they may not be so caring. They do know the part we played in the activation of the Eclipse Tower, you know. And... well, if we WERE to marry... then there would undoubtedly be some accusations of associating with the enemy. So unfortunately, I do not believe that a relationship between us could safely be revealed to the public for as long as I am queen."

Matthew's expression fell.

Sveta's smile did not falter, though. "Keep in mind that I was already worried about how well I would do as queen. If I can find a suitable replacement, I will. Belinsk deserves better than I can give it. This is just another bit of motivation, if you will."

Matthew gave a sad smile and nodded back. He looked quickly to make sure no one was within eyesight, and then took Sveta's hand within his. She gave a caring squeeze back.

"I will do what I can while you are gone," Sveta said. "Please hurry back, though. Perhaps if there is more to this quest of yours... well, we shall see, won't we?"

Matthew nodded. Maybe there was hope after all.

* * *

After breakfast, Matthew returned to the suite and grabbed his belongings. Sveta came with him and accompanied him to the city gates. She hugged him goodbye and bid him a safe journey, and then he was off. She turned and walked back into the city, not wanting to risk any unneeded attention. And anyway, she was a busy girl. She had work to do if she wanted pass the crown onto someone else.

The streets of Belinsk were still unbearably empty. The bodies had been cleaned up, but their spirits still lingered; Sveta dared not risk using her spirit sensing abilities, as she didn't believe she could stand to hear the thoughts of one of her subjects, cut down in part thanks to her own actions.

Those who remained were mostly soldiers and guards, many of whom had attempted to learn different trades to help restore the kingdom. All of the band members had survived as well, as had a good number of civilians and shopkeepers. None of those seemed like good prospects for the throne, though.

Sveta thought for a moment as she waved to a citizen who was excitedly wishing his queen a fantastic morning. What made for a good leader, though? After the beastman revolution, the Czamaral clan was selected to lead thanks to their contributions to the movement, but this was more thanks to the fact that both her parents had been skilled adepts than anything else. Might makes right, as they say.

Hopefully she could dissuade her people from that idea, though. If they kept it in their head that the strongest should keep the crown, she would never get away; she was a master of hand-to-hand fighting, and her training with Matthew's group had honed her talents with Jupiter psynergy to the point where with a thought, she could summon a windstorm the size of a small town.

But then, who could rule in her place? Someone with the ability to keep up the morale of the people, to manage everything appropriately, and to make confident decisions in the face of adversity?

Sveta's ears drooped. What if no such person existed?

* * *

The moon shone down on the town of Kalay, seated on the landbridge connecting the continents of Gondowan and Angara. It was not a city of great renown, but this was mostly by design; if the truth about Kalay was known - that it was home to more than half of the Warriors of Vale, as well as several their offspring - then many of the great nations of the world would be vying for control over the region or cowering in fear of the potential threat it held. On this particular night, unbeknownst to most of the townsfolk, several of the Warriors of Vale were gathered in one place to discuss the state of Weyard and the dangers currently posed to it.

The location was Ivan's house, sitting on the edge of town and out of the public eye. Present at the meeting were Ivan himself, as well as Isaac, Jenna, Garet, Tyrell, Karis, and Kraden the scholar.

Everyone was seated at a large table Ivan had in his study, and Ivan himself was standing at a writing board he often used to sketch blueprints for inventions he was working on. He was a man of 44 years old, but someone unfamiliar with him would not place him above his early twenties; for one, the effects of the Golden Sun had slowed his aging, and the aging of his comrades, to nearly nothing, and for another, he still retained his youthful energy and his determined attitude. As he stood in front of the group, drawing all sorts of diagrams on the board, Garet couldn't help but laugh to himself.

"Ivan, none of us are going to understand what any of this means until you explain it. Well, except Kraden and Karis, maybe."

Karis looked at him with a smile. "My father hasn't told me any of this either, Garet, and I haven't spent as much time as I've liked helping him with his research recently. I'm as lost as you are."

Ivan looked up. "Well, I may as well begin explaining anyway. Kraden and I have been comparing notes, and we have a few ideas as to how the vortexes work. The pattern they've been appearing in can't be ignored; up until recently, they have always shown up in locations with high concentrations of psynergy. The one in Gondowan is uncomfortably close to Venus Lighthouse, for example."

Kraden spoke from where he sat. "We believe that the vortexes may actually be a method that the world uses to remove excess alchemical energy."

Ivan nodded. "Correct." He took a small glass and put it on the table. "This is our universe." He then took a bucket full of water. "The water in here is all the forces of alchemy. And this," he said as he tipped the bucket over the glass," is what happened when we activated the lighthouses." Water poured out of the bucket, filling the glass almost immediately, and when Ivan didn't stop, water continued to splash over the edges until the table around it was completely soaked. "There is no built-in shutoff switch. The world needs alchemy to survive, and it has been proven that the world has actually grown larger already in the 30 years since the Golden Sun event. But it's possible that too much alchemy is a bad thing as well."

Isaac raised a hand. "So what you're saying is that the reason these vortexes are appearing is because of the lighthouses? Is it possible that that's why alchemy was sealed away in the first place?"

Kraden gave a laugh. "Very astute, Isaac! It is possible indeed, though that isn't what Ivan and I suspect."

Ivan smiled. "The recorded vortexes have actually been getting smaller in recent years... for the most part, at least. We suspect that as the world grows, so does its alchemical capacity. Left alone, the vortexes would stop being an issue on their own."

Isaac's face remained neutral. He knew there had to be more to what Ivan was saying. "But...?"

Ivan's face took a more serious tone. "But there has been evidence that not all of the vortexes are natural. Some are manmade."

There was a sound of a loud smack. As everyone turned to look, Tyrell jumped out of his seat, his fist having loudly impacted his hand. "It was those Tuaparang guys, wasn't it? We saw their machine in the mine, and it was powering a huge vortex in there!"

"Precisely. Kraden and I suspect that they may in fact be tied to the Mourning Moons, as well. They happened 10 and 20 years ago, respectively, and the fact that the Tuaparang should reveal themselves right before another is expected to arrive seems too convenient to be a coincidence."

Jenna, sitting on the opposite side of the room from Isaac, spoke up next. "So what should we do? Do we go after them? Do we have any leads on where they're based?"

"Not yet," Ivan said. "I spoke to Isaac, and he agrees with me that we should first try to gather the Warriors of Vale before we make any immediate moves. So, let's take stock.

"Isaac, Jenna, Garet and I are here. Mia is in Imil, Piers is sailing, I believe Sheba to be in Hesperia somewhere, and Felix... well, none of us are sure. But seven out of eight is still good if we can manage it."

Tyrell grunted. "What about us? We can help too, can't we?"

"I think we'd all prefer to know our children were safe at home, Tyrell," Garet replied.

But Karis agreed. "No offense, but the eight of us just saved all of Angara from an endless horde of shadow creatures. I think we can handle ourselves."

Jenna nodded. "Okay, you have a point. Who could we reliably assume will help?"

Karis counted off her fingers as she listed names. "Tyrell and I are here, Matthew will probably return once he's done in Morgal, and Rief... well, if I know Rief, he's probably back in Imil visiting his mother by now. The rest I don't have high hopes for. Amiti's likely to take the Ayuthay throne, Sveta's already queen of Belinsk, Eoleo is Champa's new Pirate King, and Himi... well, Himi's ten years old or something. Her parents won't let us take her away again unless we absolutely need her."

Jenna cocked her head. "I thought Mia had two children. What about Nowell?"

Tyrell helpfully spoke up. "She left with Piers, last time we heard!"

Jenna rolled her eyes. "With Piers? Really? Right after meeting him?" She muttered under her breath. "Like mother like daughter, I guess."

Isaac threw his arms out to the side. "Wow, THAT was fast!"

"Well, I'm sorry, I just can't help but notice a pattern there. Hey, maybe if Rief isn't in Imil, we won't need to worry? Maybe he's already found some nice girl and shacked up with her within an hour of meeting her-"

This time it was Garet who shouted a response. "This IS our friend, you remember? The one who helped us _save the world that one time?_"

Jenna put up her hands. "All I'm saying is that maybe she would've been even more help if she'd had five minutes alone with that Agatio guy or something. Hell, Felix already had Karst cordoned off, for the most part-"

"Jenna."

Everyone looked at Ivan, surprised at the tone of his voice.

"If you don't want to co-operate, you don't have to. But you can't let your feud with Mia interfere with our mission to stop the vortexes. I, for one, am sick of hearing it come up any time Isaac's within earshot, and if it's really going to continue to be a problem, then I feel that you three should sort yourselves out before any of you are included. Are we agreed?"

"Us _three?_" Isaac interjected.

"Yes. You three. Like it or not, their feud is mainly centered on you. So would you kindly get to work on doing your duty as a leader and, oh, I don't know, leading?"

Jenna stood up and began walking out of the house. "Don't bother, Ivan. He can handle a life-or-death situation, but the moment any kind of interpersonal issue crops up, he gets the hell out of dodge. Call me if you need me, but for now, it looks like you've got either me or Mia. Not both." And then she stormed out.

"Jenna, wait..." Isaac began, and then he followed after her.

There was a long silence.

"...What was _that_ about?" Karis asked.

Garet sighed. "Well... that was the main reason the four of us spent so much time on Goma Plateau. Tyrell, you were a little young at the time to understand, but..."

Ivan shrugged his shoulders and sat down with his remaining guests. "Back when we were doing the initial run for the lighthouses, Isaac and Mia got a little... close. They broke it off before we met up with Felix's group, but Jenna didn't hear about it until she and Isaac were already married. Later on, she caught the two of them closer than she would consider 'appropriate' for people who were just friends..."

"We still can't get a reliable story from any of them about what happened," Garet added.

"So then Isaac had to leave. Garet came with him to give him company. We really had been taking watches over Mt Aleph, so the two went to the cabin on Goma Plateau. They brought along Matthew and Tyrell to help give them advanced psynergy training in case any real dangers cropped up."

Tyrell scratched his head. "I still wish somebody had told me sooner... I mean, Matthew knows his parents have broken up, right?"

Garet sighed. "I think Matthew knows that his parents aren't talking to each other, at least. Jenna was right on one count; Isaac has never been very good at facing up to social conflicts. It's possible that it never came up."

Karis was looking downcast. "So all this time... you guys lived out there because Jenna and Isaac had a fight? That's... wow."

Ivan put a hand on his daughter's shoulder. "I'm sorry you had to find out this way. Honestly, they're usually more civil than this."

There was a bright flash outside the window. The ground shook slightly, and Ivan picked up the glass, still full of water, to prevent any further spillage. "Much more civil."

Garet stood up. "Think we should check on them?"

Ivan followed suit. "Yes, let's. Kraden, please keep an eye on Karis and Tyrell. We'll be back soon." He cracked his knuckles and grabbed his staff on the way out.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES_

_...Aaaand THAT'S why I wanted to know if Isaac and Jenna were ever referred to as being married in the game._

_Just as an aside, I don't think Kalay's location has been officially confirmed yet. But there is a big stretch of lowlands between Angara and Gondowan in the Dark Dawn map, so I figure it's probably there. The alternative is that Kalay sits somewhere in Bilibin, which would be a pretty huge distance for Karis to go just for a friendly visit._

_I have to say, it's a lot easier dealing with a whole lot of talking characters than it is with one mind-reader and one quiet protagonist._


	4. Moving on

**Golden Sun is Nintendo and Camelot's thing. They want it? It's theirs, my friend. No rupees required.**

* * *

Sveta sat, bored, in her throne room, trying very hard to pay attention to her advisors' every request. It was her queenly duty, after all, to make most of the decisions in Belinsk... but some of these seemed somewhat trivial, especially in the face of the more serious matters that needed attention.

"Your Highness, thank you so much for favoring me with your attentions! I come to ask one simple request of you - please select the name of the new tavern I'm opening in the town square! It has come down to two names. Which do you prefer: the Snooty Fox, or the Cat in the Hat?"

Sveta sighed and squeezed her eyes shut just long enough to calm herself. "For one, I do not believe opening a new tavern is a good idea. If you have building or management skills, why not assist with the rebuilding of the town? Many of our citizens are still homeless, and I am sure they would be very thankful."

The guest coughed. "Your Majesty, I ask not for entrepreneurial advice. Just the name is fine."

"A name? Oh, alright. How about... what was the second one?"

"Cat in the Hat."

"Yes. That."

"That's the one you recommend?"

"Yes."

The fellow fiddled with his claw for a moment. "Well, it's just that... I kind of like the other one better."

Sveta sighed, louder this time. "Alright, then I suggest you use the other one."

"But... it sounds so SNOOTY."

Sveta looked over at Mr. Bentley, seated to her left. He looked back at her and shrugged, his expression revealing nothing.

She slumped in her chair, smoothed the skirt of her royal dress and adjusted her tiara. "Well, you have my recommendation. I hereby give you permission to use either name, if you feel opening a second tavern in a recovering city is truly ideal. If you need advice as to which of the names you want, I recommend you ask friends or family. That is all. Good day, sir!"

"T-thank you, Queen Sveta! I shall not forget your kindness!" And the man hurried out.

This had been far from the most ridiculous of requests she had received so far. Did the people believe that they needed royal permission for EVERYTHING? Did they lack the ability to think for themselves? Sveta had barely been able to keep her calm when someone asked whether yellow or blue was a better color to paint their newborn child's room. Citizens were supposed to be coming to talk about important matters like food, shelter, and so on. Instead, it was inane question after inane question, and the queen was beginning to wonder if it was all worth it. Did people simply not appreciate all of the time she had to set aside for this sort of thing?

Or did they not have faith in her ability to deal with the relevant questions?

For another few minutes, Sveta and Bentley would be alone. She looked over at him. "Mr Bentley... please be honest. What do you think about my ability to lead?"

Bentley seemed confused by the question. "W-well, my lady, you ARE the heir to the throne! Of course you should have no reason to do a poor job. Am I mistaken?"

Sveta looked down at her hands, folded in her pocket. "I should have no reason, perhaps. But that is irrelevant. My question was, am I doing a good job? Do you believe I am even capable of doing a good job? This is between us, of course, and I promise I will not hold your answer against you."

Bentley paused for a moment. His bushy tail, curled around him on his chair, twitched once. Then he responded. "Well... Volechek was a very tough act to follow, my queen."

Sveta cocked her head. "Act? Mr Bentley, I am not acting-"

The squirrel put up a hand to ask for silence. "It is a figure of speech, my queen. What I mean is, Volechek was an excellent king. Perhaps the greatest king in the world, at his time. He was very good at micromanaging, and the kingdom... has yet to adjust to your style of leadership, I believe." There was a slight frown on Bentley's face.

Sveta smiled softly. "Thank you for your honesty. I... agree, somewhat. The citizens may appear to like me, but they do not respect me. I am entirely overwhelmed by the duties required of me, and to be frank, I did not expect to ever have to take the throne. Volechek was just a few years older than I, and he was a warrior without match. I believe everyone expected him to lead long into his old age. But... it just was not to be."

"My lady, I-"

"Mr Bentley, do you know of any who could replace me in the seat of royalty?"

The squirrel's eyes shot open and his tail flew straight up into the air so quickly that it almost knocked over a wall-mounted lamp. "Wh... what? My queen, that is... that is madness! You are-"

"I am of the ruling line, yes. But I would rather have someone capable of leading Belinsk back to its rightful place in the world than maintain a faulty tradition."

"F-faulty? You call the monarchy _faulty?_"

Sveta smiled serenely. "I am a monarch, Mr Bentley. I believe I have that privilege."

"B-"

"Mr Bentley, as queen it is my duty to do what is best for the kingdom. I believe that what is best is to find someone with the slightest bit of talent for the job and give _them _the throne. I will not merely stand by and let myself ruin this kingdom."

Bentley sat slack-jawed. He didn't answer.

So Sveta kept talking. "You have been an excellent help for me, teaching me how to properly run the kingdom. You were an excellent assistant to my brother as well, when he was the king. You know the castle and those within it better than any I am aware of. With that in mind, I believe I will officially assign you the job of finding me a successor. Sooner is better than later."

If Bentley's lower lip hadn't been trembling, it would have been prudent for Sveta to check for a pulse.

At that moment, a young rabbit beastman walked into the throne room. "Queen Sveta, a visitor requests an audience with Your Most Royal Highness!"

Sveta nodded. "Thank you. Let him in, please." To Bentley, she said, "I will let you think it over. I greatly appreciate it in advance!"

Bentley forced himself to look forward as the next visitor entered. He forced a shaky smile to his face and said nothing.

The doors opened. In walked a man - not a beastman - of tall stature. He had a grizzled beard and an eyepatch over his left eye. His black hair was long in the back, and it hung loosely around his black leather jacket, complemented by white fur around the neck of his coat. A massive broadsword hung in its sheath on his back.

Sveta smiled at the figure, still pleased at how she rendered Mr Bentley utterly speechless. "Greetings, sir. What may I do to assist you?"

The visitor smiled. "Oh, you can do plenty."

The windows of the throne room shattered, and several black-armored men flew through each. Upon landing, each soldier drew a bowgun and leveled it at Sveta.

"You may call me Doublon, of the Tuaparang," the man said, "and if you feel like assisting me, you can sit quietly while I do my very best to kidnap you and hold you for ransom."

The room was silent but for the clicking of boots on the throne room floor as more soldiers entered through the broken windows.

Sveta froze. This had not been how she expected the day to turn out.

But then she began to think.

If she tried to resist, they would be ready for her. They would open fire, probably killing her and almost certainly killing her trusted advisor. She did not want to risk it. Even so... would being kidnapped really be that bad? She could probably escape once they let their guard down, as they inevitably would. And once she was out of the castle... she was free, at least for a little while. As far as Belinsk knew, she was a hostage. They wouldn't bother looking for her. And then she could take a break from the monotony of leadership, perhaps take a delightful sightseeing trip down to Kalay, while her cabinet did their best to find a replacement for her anyway. By the time she returned, alive and unharmed, with stories of a daring escape from her captors, she would be able to pass the torch to her successor whoever they might be.

Sveta smiled broadly. "Alright! I'll come quietly. Thank you for asking. My request still stands, Mr Bentley. Do not wait up for me."

The squirrel chittered with terror.

Doublon's smile fell. "Umm. That was... easier than I expected."

Sveta stood suddenly, prompting several Tuaparang warriors to jump in surprise and almost fire. "So where are we going? You Tuaparang generally have a flying machine of some sort, do you not?"

Doublon shook his head. "Hold on. You aren't going anywhere without being bound."

"...Bound?" Sveta asked. "Why should I be bound? I am a willing prisoner. I will not act against you in any way." As she spoke, she signaled Mr Bentley to get somewhere safe - he was still in the line of fire, and she worried that things were about to get quite dangerous.

"A willing prisoner with significant fighting experience," Doublon stated flatly, "and if you decide to be a hero, it'll be hard to avoid killing you."

Sveta counted off her fingers. "Firstly, I would rather not worry my people. If they see me led through the city in chains, they will act to defend me and there will be unnecessary casualties. Bindings will be acceptable once we leave city limits, and not a moment before. Secondly, hard to avoid killing me? I do not believe you know who you are dealing with."

"You don't get to pick the circumstances of your abduction, miss," Doublon said, clearly approaching his breaking point.

Sveta cracked her knuckles. "You have not abducted me yet," she said, her grin full of sharp canine teeth.

Doublon snapped his fingers.

Several psy grenades were thrown at once, but Sveta knew they were coming; it was a Tuaparang tactic she had seen many times before. She leapt high into the air out of their range and landed dextrously on her feet. She counted the soldiers - eight, plus the leader - and then let her combat instincts take over.

She heard the click-click of several bowguns. Unleashing a swift blast of wind, she knocked the arrows out of the air; she then dashed, quicker than the eye could follow, toward the closest of the soldiers. A punch to the face, then the solar plexus, and then a kick to the groin, and he was down. Next.

Sveta tapped into her psynergy and let herself fly forward like a feather in a hurricane, her fist leading the way. Her Speed Punch struck the next soldier in the side of the head, knocking him out instantly.

The remaining 6 men had almost finished reloading already. Doublon had not moved. Sveta still had the initiative, and she put it to good use by leaping toward the next group, throwing a Destruct Ray at a soldier who apparently had decided that another psy grenade was the way to go, and then planting her feet into the chest of the fourth man. He was out cold before he hit the ground.

Sveta then spun, her ankle catching another warrior in the side of the knee. She heard a crack, and he went down screaming. With a backflip and a fluorish just to intimidate, Sveta prepared for the next volley of attacks.

When none came, she decided her point had been made. Three bowguns still remained leveled at her, but they were shaky and unconfident. Sveta smoothed out her dress and snickered.

"No," she reiterated as she caught her breath, "I believe I go of my own will and you will do nothing to restrict my freedom."

The tension in the air was palpable.

There was no sound but for the sobs of the man whose leg had been broken. The victim of her Destruct Ray twitched. Her advanced senses caught a cornucopia of scents: the smell of fear, combined with the acrid aroma of burned hair and a hint of urine.

Sveta clenched her fists, wondering whether she should make the first move.

And then Doublon gave a loud, low-pitched laugh.

"Well, I think she's made her case, hasn't she, men? Alright, girl, if you're that intent on being kidnapped humanely, then we'll grant your wish. Come with us, don't do anything suspicious, and count yourself lucky that you didn't have to pick a fight with me personally." He pointed at two of his soldiers, and then at the man clutching his broken knee. "You two, grab him. Be gentle. We've got first aid in the airship. I'll grab the rest."

Sure enough, while the two men moved toward their injured-but-conscious comrade, Doublon picked up the four others like potato sacks and stacked them on his shoulders. He walked toward the room's single ornate exit, stepping around the broken glass from his troops' dynamic entrance. He turned as he reached it and motioned toward it with his head. "Well? Are you coming?" he asked.

Sveta nodded. She skipped to the throne room entrance, opened the door and held it for the Tuaparang group as if they were trusted friends instead of malicious adversaries. She followed them through. Just before she let the door swing shut, she gave one last peek inside.

"Goodbye, Mr Bentley!" she said cheerfully. "And again, good luck with your errand!"

The door shut.

Five minutes later, Bentley found the words to describe what had just happened. None of them are printable.

* * *

"Sorry, sir, but the Border Town gate is closed for the foreseeable future! Lord McCoy apologizes for the inconvenience."

Matthew threw his arms out to his sides, making a "What the hell" face at the guard topping the wall. The guard did not respond, however; he simply stood his ground, unmoving. Matthew looked around; the Border Town wall had signs of battle damage, having been within the area of the Grave Eclipse, but nothing he could exploit without attracting unwanted attention. If he really wanted to, he was talented enough with Venus Psynergy to simply rend the earth asunder beneath the walls themselves, creating a new, more accessible path, and the fact that he had a considerable number of Djinn in his possession would have made it even easier to do so. But even in the aftermath of the Eclipse, Bilibin would not extend any kindness to the kingdom of Morgal, and the last thing Matthew wanted was to start a war between the two nations.

He smiled to himself. Even if he and Sveta probably COULD win that war on their own.

So Matthew turned and walked away from the Border Town wall. He still had to get to Kalay, but probably wouldn't be getting there through Bilibin. The only other route was to the south, through the mines beneath Konpa Ruins, and that was blocked off by rocks. That was the reason they couldn't turn back in the past.

But that was the past. Now it was the present. And now, Matthew felt confident that he could just move the Angara mountain range out of the way if they really became an issue. A handful of boulders would be no big deal. He began the walk south.

* * *

Far north in the frozen wastelands, in the center of a vast sheet of ice, there existed one remaining bastion of human civilization. The town, known to all as Imil, had sat in the shadow of the Mercury Lighthouse for as long as it had existed, and even the dawning of the Golden Sun had not changed that. Its people were tenacious and hardworking - as they had to be, if they wished to survive the punishing environment - and even the Grave Eclipse had simply passed over and through them to little effect. In this case, it was mostly thanks to one individual that the town survived. The tide of shadow had been turned by a woman who was destined to live on beyond her years in the world's myths and legends... the great Chief Healer of Imil, Mia.

Of course, healing was not all Mia had done to assist the town.

Mia was tending to the wounded in the hut that served as a makeshift hospital. The town was truly lucky she had been around when the Eclipse occurred. There was not a single death among their number, and the few that had been seriously injured were well on their way to perfect health. The only wounds that remained in the weeks since the Eclipse were broken bones, concussions, and other things that healed best with time, and Mia was still doing her very best to help the body's natural repairs take place properly.

Those in the town who had already healed were out in the city, working to repair what little damage there was, or admiring the massive ice walls that now adorned the town limits.

Mia was in the middle of removing the splint around a young child's leg when she heard an earsplitting crack coming from outside. She hurried to remove it, made sure that the child was capable of walking on her own, and then ran outside to see what had happened.

"Ice walls, Mom? Seems sort of like overkill, don't you think?" Rief kicked aside a small chunk of wall that had landed next to him. "The least you could've done was made a door or something."

Mia smiled and ran to see her son. "Rief! Oh, I'm so glad you're safe! We had heard that monsters were appearing everywhere that was covered by the eclipse's shadow, and... and you and Nowell were out there with Kraden..."

Rief gave his mother a hug. "Oh, we were the ones that stopped it, actually. It's a long story. Do you want to hear it?"

"Of course. Let's go inside, shall we?"

And with that, they went back toward the hospital tent, mother and son, hand in hand.

"Sorry about your wall by the way, Mom. Do you want me to help fix it?"

"Oh, it was a five-minute job anyway. Had to keep the monsters out. By the way, where's your sister? I hope she's okay, isn't she?"

"I think Piers is probably taking very good care of her right now, yes."

"...Okay, I think you should start with THAT part of the story."

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_A bit of a shorter chapter than normal, but the Sveta scene was the main part that I wanted to get across. One of the things I want to focus on in this story is how unbelievably potent an Adept can be. Remember Saturos and Menardi? They had fairly godlike Mars psynergy just through hard work and training. And by the way? They had no Djinn whatsoever. Djinn increase an Adept's strength significantly in this story, too. The idea is that with the exception of Flint, who Isaac gave to Matthew when he left, each of the Warriors of Vale still has the 9 or so Djinn they were able to carry by the time they finished Mars Lighthouse. The 2nd generation maxed out their Djinn capacities, too. All in all, there are about 16 demigods walking the earth, and most of them are related._

_I might be making Djinn somewhat more effective at increasing an Adept's capabilities in the story than they actually do in the game, but that's for dramatic effect._

_And before you ask, no, Matthew couldn't actually move the entire mountain range on his own... not very quickly, anyway._

_Thanks for reading, everybody! I LOVE to hear criticism because it lets me know people are actually reading and not just skimming, too, so tell me about every little tiny thing that bugs you about my stuff, alright?  
_


	5. Mediation

**Yo dawg, I heard you liked Golden Sun, so I put a Golden Sun in yo Nintendo and Camelot so you can read my fics while Nintendo and Camelot own the rights to them!**

* * *

"So, Mr Doublon, where are you taking me? Why me specifically?"

Doublon's sole remaining eye looked at Sveta with an expression lacking in any empathy or tolerance. They were sitting within the hold of a Tuaparang airship designed for function rather than comfort, and even if the man had harbored any positive feelings toward Sveta in the first place, the cramped quarters ruined just about everyone's mood. All 4 of the unconscious soldiers had awoken at this point, but the man with the broken leg had been tranquilized and laid across several chairs. With only 12 seats in the passenger hold, personal space was at a premium.

Ironically, even though Sveta had agreed to have her hands bound once she left the city limits, she was still the most high-spirited of the group. She had spent most of the flight trying to look out the small windows, apologizing to the 4 conscious men she kicked, punched and zapped into oblivion, and digging for information. Some of the troopers were moderately amicable, but the moment the ship had taken off, Doublon had sealed his mouth. He hadn't spoken a word since his boots had lost contact with the ground.

Sveta looked closely at his face. Most of it was obscured by beard, hair and eyepatch, but after staring closely she noticed a green tinge on what skin was visible.

She decided to stop badgering him.

None of the Tuaparang warriors had any idea of the purpose of the mission. They were handpicked, elite soldiers, but they were not paid to understand; they were paid to perform. That was their mantra, repeated to Sveta several times over the course of many different questions. So with Doublon uncooperative and the soldiers unaware, Sveta gave up asking.

Instead, she sat back in her chair and let herself slump a few inches. She wasn't sure where she was going with this plan. It seemed like such a fantastic coincidence that someone would try to kidnap her the moment she announced her intent to abdicate leadership. She had accepted without thinking, of course, and she was beginning to wonder if maybe she should have tried to bargain for more freedom. A change in clothes, perhaps; it sure was stuffy in here and her beautiful dress didn't do well in the heat.

Of course, she hadn't really been in a position to bargain in the first place. It was only thanks to the Tuaparang General's generosity that she had been able to even leave the city unbound. And if she had tried everything... well, there was something about the man. He didn't seem particularly scary, aside from his grizzled look, but he HAD picked up 4 unconscious men as if they were nothing. And that sword he had been carrying on his back, now held between his knees... for some reason, every time Sveta looked too closely at it she felt sick to her stomach.

So escape probably wasn't an option as long as Doublon was paying attention. She hoped desperately that the Tuaparang's plans for her involved some form of imprisonment. All her years of sneaking out of the castle had turned her into a talented escape artist, and if it really became necessary... well, she still had all her Djinn. And she doubted any of the men nearby had seen her beastform before.

If she WERE to escape, what would she do? Go back to Belinsk? Perhaps. But this was such a perfect opportunity. She was thought to be missing.

She looked up at the ceiling and smiled, lost in thought. If she could get a message to Matthew... oh, escaping with the love of her life, free of all responsibility! Every woman's dream. She blushed with happiness.

The man next to her kicked her leg. "Hey, snap out of it. No funny business. We know you're an adept, we don't need you to like... blow up our engines, or whatever."

The man next to THAT man gave the first a punch in the arm. "Don't give her any ideas, doofus!"

Sveta sat up straight. "So it did not occur to either of you that blowing up your engines was not my intent? If this airship crashes, I crash too. I do not know where we are. I would never make it back to civilization even if I survived impact with the ground."

One of the soldiers she knocked out made a rude gesture at her. "H-hey, quit tryin' to scare us!"

Sveta shrugged and closed her eyes. Maybe she could get some sleep if she tried hard enough...

* * *

Isaac held an ice pack to the side of his face, helpfully provided by one of Kalay's mercury adepts. The chief healer had done what he could to mend the burns, but he was not quite as talented in that respect as Mia or Piers; there was still redness and heat, and though it wasn't a serious burn anymore, Isaac was happy to have something to dull the pain.

He was back at Ivan's house, having been helped back after his less-than-friendly encounter with Jenna. Garet had taken Jenna back to her own residence, but she had gotten off easy; a few small bruises after Isaac had knocked her to the ground with an earthquake, throwing off her aim. He wasn't aiming to seriously hurt her, of course. And at least the town itself was alright.

Ivan entered the guest room where Isaac was sitting. He placed a pot of tea on the bedside table and offered Isaac a cup. Isaac took it gratefully, poured himself some, and sipped it. "Thanks. For, uh, everything."

"Isaac... you really need to talk with Jenna about this. I'm not sure what happened between the three of you, but it's tearing the group apart, not to mention your marriage. I know you've never been all that great with... well, with people, but... dammit, Isaac, she can't read minds! She needs to know you mean her no wrong."

Isaac put down his teacup and threw the now-unoccupied hand into the air. "I don't know why she thinks I MEAN her any wrong! You've read my mind, Ivan. You know what happened the night I was kicked out."

Ivan sighed. "Yes, but can't you see why she might have taken offense to that? Maybe she just entered at the wrong time. Maybe she heard the wrong things. But she is seriously upset. I can't even bring it up around her, otherwise I might be able to help."

Ivan took a step closer. "If you could calm her down about it," he said, "maybe I could use my mind reading to see what precisely bothered her _quite this much_."

Isaac shrugged. "Well... maybe. But it's ironic, isn't it? I mean... Mia had come to talk to me with concerns that HER husband might have been unfaithful, and yet I'M the one who gets kicked out of my house? It just seems so... wrong, you know?"

"Isaac, be honest with me," Ivan said. "A hug was as far as you went? Just a consoling hug?"

"Well, _that time_, yes. And I don't see why you're asking about honesty, YOU of all people. I _can't_ hide anything from you. It's impossible."

Ivan leaned back against the wall. "It just doesn't make any sense. What I'm getting from this is, Jenna saw you and Mia doing something that offended her so deeply that it ruined her relationship with the two of you for four years. She hasn't even spoken to Mia since that day. Hell, today she insulted Mia's kids, which is so out of line I don't even know where to start. Jenna loves you, Isaac. Otherwise she wouldn't feel so angry at Mia for, as she sees it, stealing you away."

Both were silent for a short while. Eventually, Isaac laid down, still holding the ice pack, but now with his mind focused on more than just his burned skin. "I don't know, Ivan. I just... I don't understand it at all."

* * *

"I j-just don't know how he could have done it, Garet! I... *sniff*... he was never like this! Not before!"

Garet handed Jenna another handkerchief. She blew her nose again and put it aside. Tears flowing from her eyes, she cradled her head in her hands and sobbed deeply.

"Jenna, I just... Ivan and I don't understand this whole thing. We understand you're hurt, but..."

"But _what?_ You believe my g-good-for-nothing husband more than me? *sniff* Because _obviously_ the male of the couple is always telling the truth!"

Garet leaned in closer to Jenna. "But Ivan read Isaac's mind, Jenna. He IS telling the truth, as far as we can tell-"

"Well maybe he found out a way to block Ivan's mind reading, because _that's not what I saw!_"

"Maybe you were mistaken! Isaac managed to calm Mia's fears about her husband, and she hugged him in thanks..."

"Oh, just a hug? Absolutely! And it would've been fine if either of them had even been _wearing clothes _at the time!" Jenna spoke more, but her words were inaudible between her sobbing and the fact that her hands muffled her voice.

Garet sat back. This just didn't add up. He believed Ivan's every word, and Ivan said that Isaac's version was 100% accurate, or at least that Isaac believed it was. And yet... neither of them could doubt the sincerity of Jenna's emotions. She was crying her heart out in front of Garet, and... well, if her story was to be believed, something had happened that would be kind of hard to misunderstand.

Jenna continued. "I just... I miss Matthew, Garet! And I miss my husband, and *sniff* I miss being a family! I still love Isaac, but he won't even admit what he did, and Mia won't either, and... and... thanks to them, I can't even... Garet, why did everyone have to leave?"

Garet looked down. He knew she wasn't just talking about Isaac anymore.

"My son went on some... 'adventure'..." Jenna made air quotes with her fingers as she spoke. "My husband lives miles away because I can't stand to even look at his unfaithful _face_... my brother vanished decades ago... my parents live over in Bilibin now, and I couldn't even visit them now if I tried..."

Garet gave Jenna yet another handkerchief. She blew her nose again, but she wasn't crying nearly as hard anymore.

"Garet... it's unfair. Life just isn't fair. Oh gosh, listen to me... you know as well as I do. I'm sorry... at least I still HAVE a husband, even if he is a no-good, cheating old... *sniff*"

Garet sighed. He didn't want to be reminded of the past. So he changed the subject. "Listen, Jenna... will you at least let Ivan take a look? If you trust him, he might be able to explain what went on that night. He saw what's in Isaac's head. If he sees what's in your head, maybe he can tell you what's different?"

Jenna looked at him with swollen, red eyes. "I don't know, Garet. I just... what if he looks, and he tells me I'm crazy? What if I really am wrong? I just... I don't want to believe it, almost. I WANT to believe that my husband is a cheater, an adulterer, because if not, it means these past few years... there'd have been no point to them. I don't know what I would do if I found out that was the case. I just... I don't know."

Jenna stood up. "Thank you so much for your help, Garet, but... I think I'm going to have to pass. I just... can you talk to Isaac about it? Maybe we can... maybe we can talk it over. The two of us. Later, though. I think I need to be alone again." And with that, she walked upstairs.

Garet stood up and left her house. He could almost understand Jenna's feelings.

After all, what if someone had told him that his wife could have been saved after all?

* * *

"Kraden... are you sure Matthew's parents are okay?" Karis said, her voice full of worry.

Tyrell laughed. "Come on, Karis! They're the Warriors of Vale. Our dads could've broken up the fight easily, and it's not like any of them are strangers to a little danger!"

"Oh, you know what I mean, Tyrell! Kraden, can't we turn back? Kalay is just a few minutes away..."

Kraden put up a hand for silence as he continued walking. "Isaac and Jenna need to work this out between themselves. Besides, Matthew should be on his way soon, and don't you agree that it would be beneficial for us to meet him halfway? Well, not halfway, of course, but Patcher's Place has a nice inn, and don't you think he'd appreciate you helping him mend the structure, Tyrell?" Kraden chuckled. "I have heard that you owe him, somewhat."

Tyrell began to pout. "Oh come on, it was one time! And... and it was an accident!"

Karis scowled at him. "And that's a great reason why you should be trying to make it up to him, Tyrell! I think it's a great plan, Kraden, and you're right, it might be better for us to be out of Kalay for a few nights. If we're helping to fix up Patcher's Place, it also means we'll be more likely to catch Matthew as he passes through town."

The three kept walking as the sun began to rise. "You're such a suckup, Karis," Tyrell said, right before letting out a massive yawn.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Okay, this chapter kind of got away from me, I'll admit. After reading over some of the earlier chapters, I realized that Jenna had come off as a colossal bitch, and I needed to make sure people could actually empathize with her somewhat. Hopefully this helps.  
_


	6. Best Laid Plans

**Oh Mister Sun, Sun, lovely Golden Sun, please shine down on Nintendo and Camelot!**

* * *

Sveta found Matthew, as expected, under the evergreen tree in the courtyard. He was shrouded in all black, and if not for her heightened beastial senses, she may not have noticed him with only the pale moonlight to guide her. But she knew his scent, and she could smell him from here. The desire radiating off of him sent shivers up her spine.

"My beloved Sveta, your beautiful eyes radiate in the darkness like lanterns. It _intoxicates me_," Matthew said. He always did have a way with words.

Sveta said nothing, but she didn't need to. She could say all she needed to with her body language.

Matthew leaned in and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her deeply. Her ears twitched lightly before she leaned right into it. They broke apart after several minutes - not nearly long enough - and Matthew said, "I cannot wait anymore. Stay with me tonight, my love!"

He began to move his hands over Sveta's shoulders. He undid the tie on the back of her shirt, letting it slip down off of one shoulder. Then he moved in to kiss her again. When he moved back out, he put a hand behind his back and revealed the most beautiful rose Sveta had ever seen. "For you," he said.

Sveta dipped down and grabbed the rose between her teeth. She looked deep into Matthew's eyes and gave a suggestive smile. He smiled back, and with a mischievous twinkle in his eye, reached out to rub the tips of Sveta's ears. She couldn't suppress a shiver; those ears were sensitive.

When she could wait no more, she let the rose drop from her mouth. She kissed the nape of Matthew's neck and tore open his shirt with her sharp teeth. His incredible, sculpted abs caught the moonlight perfectly. She looked up at his face and smiled, then pounced on him, pinning him to the ground.

She leaned in close and looked in his eyes.

He looked back at her.

She reached up to stroke his face.

And... wait, what? Her hands were kind of stuck together. She couldn't move them independantly.

"Oh right," Sveta said. "I am still on the airship."

* * *

Sveta woke up, her hands still bound. Her neck was incredibly stiff and she had a sore spot on her head from sleeping on metal. What had she been dreaming about a minute ago? Oh, probably nothing important. She yawned and stretched as far as she could. "Where are we?" she asked.

"We're flying over the northern tip of Imil," one of the Tuaparang soldiers responded. "Look out the window yourself if you care." Most of the other passengers were sleeping, too; Doublon was still in the exact same position as before, but his eye was closed shut, twitching once in a while as he dreamed.

Still feeling somewhat drowzy, Sveta nodded. She blinked once, slowly, and turned to look out the window behind her. The sun was just barely over the horizon, but in the distance she could make out a beautiful blue light - the top of Mercury Lighthouse. Looking at it made her feel calm and serene. She couldn't feel the flow of psynergy from it while she was this far away, but she knew that even non-Mercury Adepts could feel a boost of energy simply from being nearby. The lighthouses were the main source of alchemical energy feeding the world at this point, and even the weakest Adept could be a conduit for all of that power.

She smiled. She had seen the lighthouse once, and it had been from the deck of Eoleo's ship. But that time the lighthouse's brilliant beacon had been shrouded by dark energies; this time, it was in the open for all to see. She wished, deep in her heart, that she could have a chance to visit any of them up close just once in her life.

"It is... incredible. Breathtaking."

"Yeah, whatever. Just a big tower," a soldier said.

Sveta looked at him quizzically. Some people had no appreciation for the wonders of the world.

She looked down as far as she was able to with such a small window. They were currently over the Northern Sea; temperatures were near freezing down there. Rief had told her stories of the creatures that lived in that water, dwelling deep below the surface. The people of Imil occasionally hunted the sea creatures of the North for sport as well as for food when arctic game was otherwise scarce.

Before she sat down again, she took one last look at the lighthouse. They were closer now, the blue orb at the top taking a shape beyond a mere pinpoint of light. She wasn't sure if she was imagining it or not, but as she stared, she felt... strong. Healthy. Her spirits lifted just from being nearby.

She heard a shuffle across from where she was sitting, and when she turned to look, she saw that Doublon had jerked awake.

"What? What's going on?" he said.

The soldier who had spoken earlier looked at him passively. "Nothing, sir. We're just passing Imil. Nothing to worry abou-"

Doublon stood up as tall as he could in the cramped compartment. "We're too close! What's the pilot doing? We can't get that close to the Lightho-"

An explosion suddenly rocked the cabin and Sveta was jerked awake.

Sirens filled the air. The soldiers with her began waking up, all in various states of confusion. Doublon was still standing, hurriedly strapping on his sword. He looked out the window and Sveta could see his eye widen.

She followed his gaze, thinking he was looking at the Mercury Beacon. But when she looked out the window, the beacon was no longer visible. She didn't know if it was even there anymore, because right between the lighthouse and the airship was **hole **_**empty nothingness draining**__ pain, cannot breathe__**why **_**head splitting **_**ears ringing**_

**claws stretching**_** growing**__** losing control cannot**_** think cannot **_feel only instinct __**head spl**_**itting ears ring**_**ing**_

_**air **_over** under **_through __**freedom**__ falling _**water? **order.

Sveta felt a pain, a tearing, searing pain, deep within her. It was a dark emptiness within her mind. It terrified her and disoriented her to the point that she didn't even realize immediately that she was falling.

She looked down - up? - at the airship and saw it falling away from her, a vast blue in all directions. She thought she saw a figure in black leaping from the ship after her. But she might have imagined it.

It didn't matter. A split-second later, she impacted the surface of the water and everything went black.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTE:_

_Yeah, short chapter. But it's also the second chapter in one night. I kind of wanted to advance the plot somewhat before I got to bed, and it never hurts to add in a bit a cliffhanger either._

_That first section is the most embarrassing thing I have ever written, and the most embarrassing thing that has ever existed on my hard drive. But god help me if it wasn't hilarious to write._


	7. Magnificent Bastard

**the big nintendo and camelot... HASS the golden sun**

**their driving it hard thru the paint downtown**

* * *

"Vol! Emily! Come in, dinner's just about ready!"

Matthew smiled to himself as he watched his son and daughter racing toward their house in Kolima. A town full of trees (or technically, trees full of town) was just perfect for them; the two had plenty of adventures exploring together. And unlike many pairs of siblings, they got along famously. There was competition between them, but none of it was mean-spirited. Volechek was only two years older than Emily, and he was just as kindhearted as his namesake, letting his sister gain the upper hand on him once in a while even when he could have soundly beaten her whenever they were vying for supremacy.

Once in a while she didn't even need it, Matthew reminded himself, as the ground shifted sharply backward underneath Vol's feet.

"Hey, no psynergy!" Vol shouted, as he threw a small blast of wind at his sister, who had just gained the lead.

She gave a small shriek as she fell forward onto her face. She landed hard, and after a moment began to cry. Matthew shook his head to clear it, and began running toward her to see if she was okay just as her brother knelt beside her.

She ended up with only a small scrape on one knee, and within ten minutes she had forgotten all about it, but Vol still seemed to feel bad about it. His ears didn't pick up again until dinner was over. His mother told him that everything was alright, but it didn't help his mood. "I used psynergy right after I told her not to, and then she hurt herself! It's all my fault."

But then Emily walked up to him. She threw her arms around him, careful not to hurt him with her sharp claws, and then, oh so carefully, whispered into his ear...

"I still beat you to the house."

Vol's ears jerked straight upward as his eyes snapped open. He turned his head toward her, and, giving her a friendly growl, began to deliver a wide assortment of joking threats, each one making Emily laugh more than the last.

Matthew looked at Sveta and she looked back at him. He took her hand and said, "You know? I think maybe they're both feeling better."

Then she smiled back, and without batting an eye, slammed him face-first into the ground.

* * *

"Ow, what the HELL!"

Matthew rubbed his nose and picked himself up off the ground. He had fallen out of bed. He checked his hand; he had a bit of a nosebleed from the fall, but it would clear itself up. Looking out the window, he saw that the sun had risen over Carver's Camp already. It was about time to hit the road; with any luck, he could reach Kalay by the afternoon.

His nose still stung, and he idly wished he had the healing powers of a Mercury Adept. While all Adepts had the potential to learn some form of healing magic, most of them were based in the mind: Venus, with its dominion over life and death, bound the soul tighter to the body; Mars, with power over the emotion, simply gave everyone a surge of fighting spirit; Jupiter, the element of knowledge, sharpened and cleared the mind, allowing a person to act more effectively in the time they had before they could receive proper aid. All but the Mercury Adept were designed as a form of magical first-aid; Matthew remembered how, at the start of their journey, he, Tyrell and Karis had had to stop for an extended period at this very camp to wrap some proper bandages because they had not met Rief yet.

He dressed, ate, and set out for Kalay.

* * *

The daily rounds at the hospital went much faster with a helper, Mia realized. Especially now that her son was so much more... USEFUL than he used to be.

Admittedly, he had been a little bit of a baby when he and his sister had asked to study with Kraden. Their father was a fisherman with a bit of a scholastic streak, and Mia had always been reasonably academic herself, but perhaps she had... coddled her son somewhat. Nowell had managed to resist her mother's excess attentions by letting Mia know exactly when the fretting was getting out of control. Rief was... well, he was a mama's boy. He didn't mind hugging her in front of his friends. And he had always been perfectly fine with letting her handle most aspects of his life. When he left with Kraden, she had had to teach Rief a lot of life skills just to prepare him for life on the road.

Then, a few years and several hundred letters home later, he apparently hit a maturity spurt and had a hand in saving the world. Right after almost dooming it. But it was the thought that counted, right? Right.

A happy side-effect of running around with a bunch of headstrong teenagers was that Rief was now very, very adept at healing wounds. Mia was still obviously the more talented of the two, but she guessed that at this point, Rief was about as good as she had been when the group lit the last of the lighthouses. Considering that when he left, she was literally kissing his papercuts better... well, she was impressed. He could probably handle this hospital on his own if he had to.

If he would ever stop talking about the events surrounding the Grave Eclipse, of course.

"...and when he came back down, you should've seen him, Mom! Sunburns all over his face. We all got a little bit of it because Sveta was the only thing standing in the way of the light, but when he peeked over the top of the Lens, he got it full-blast. And he did it three times! Completely red, all over his face, for the entire trip back. It could've been serious if Amiti and I hadn't been there... okay, mostly me. Amiti was more of a fighter, I was more of a medic. But thanks to us, Matthew walked out of it okay! Still had a bit of a tan, last time I saw him, but -"

"Rief, can you pass me that roll of bandages?"

"Sure thing, Mom. But yeah, he's all better! Probably back at Goma Plateau, by now. I'll miss those guys, you know. I'll have to write them next chance I get! Well, I'm not 100% certain Tyrell knows how to read, but -"

"Of course he does, honey. I helped teach him," Mia said without looking up.

Rief looked back at her with a genuine look of surprise on his face. "Wow, really? I didn't know that! Must've taken some doing. I mean, I like the guy, but -"

"He's smarter than he looks, Rief! I understand where you're coming from. Wow, do I ever. But he isn't stupid, he just... he acts without thinking. And talks without thinking. To be honest, he doesn't think very much." Mia smiled. "But he's good at it."

Rief frowned. "I feel kind of bad, now. I may have intentionally made jabs at him that would go over his head."

Mia waved his worry away. "Oh, pshaw. Keep making jabs. Builds character. Oh hey, now that you're taking a break to breathe a little, would you mind looking at Ms. Amanda's ankle? It's healing quite nicely, but I don't think she can walk on it just yet. She's over by the window."

Rief nodded and obediently grabbed some bandages from the medical counter to apply to the woman's ankle. Right next to them was a thin, rectangular card, completely featureless. Rief thought he could remember seeing it before somewhere, but he couldn't place it.

"Hey, Mom?" he asked. "What's this thing?"

Mia glanced over. "Oh," she said with a laugh, "it's just an old relic from my adventuring days. We called it the Mysterious Card. Felix and his group found it somewhere. You can focus your psynergy through it for a variety of effects - things like putting people to sleep, but also for elemental attacks - and they gave it to me because I was never much of a fighter, and it gave me something to do when I wasn't healing their cuts and scrapes." She sighed and frowned. "I had to break it out again for the Eclipse. It saved lives, I'm sure, for me to be able to actually deal some damage."

Rief nodded. "Nice of them to let you keep it, I guess."

He walked over to Ms. Amanda's bed and began to unroll the bandages. As he absentmindedly looked out the window, his hands slowed to a stop. THAT wasn't supposed to be there.

"Uh... Mom?" he said unevenly. "I think you should check this out."

"What's up?" Mia asked.

Rief cleared his throat. "Umm, a Psynergy Vortex. Right next to the Mercury beacon."

Mia hurried over and looked out as well. "...Huh," she said after a moment of contemplation. "I think that warrants a closer look."

* * *

A knock at the door.

"Jenna."

Another knock.

"Jenna, are you there? Please, I just want to talk."

Jenna was there, yes. She knew she should answer the door. She knew she had to talk to Isaac eventually. But knowing it had to be done and actually DOING it were two very different things.

She took a deep breath in, held it for a few seconds, and then let it back out. "I'll be right there, hold on!" No turning back now. She checked her reflection quickly in a mirror. No, her eyes weren't noticeably red. Still a little puffy, but unless he was looking for it he probably wouldn't notice anything.

She opened the door. "Isaac," she said with as little emotion as possible, "You look well."

Isaac opened his mouth as if to speak, but apparently thought better of it. He closed his mouth and just nodded. He stepped in and Jenna closed the door behind him.

They sat down across from each other in the house's living area. For about a minute, neither said anything. Isaac looked at Jenna, his expression unreadable. Jenna found it hard to match his gaze.

So instead she spoke to fill the silence. "Isaac, I... you know my side of the story. We've been over this far too many times. I know your side, too. I was talking with Garet last night, and, well... he helped me realize that I just... I want us to be back together. But I don't want to feel like these last four years were in vain. For some reason, both our accounts of that night are incompatible with each other's. And to be honest, I believe you. You've tried... well, in your own way... to make amends. You've proven that you still care. But I know what I saw. I just..."

She trailed off. She was babbling again, and she didn't want to start this again.

Isaac nodded in understanding. This time he did speak. "Jenna, I think I understand where you're coming from. There's no way to win here. We can't just act as if this never happened, but I, for one, would really rather not let it drag us down like this any longer. So, here's what I propose: for the moment, at the very least, we put it aside. We deal with this vortex thing, deal with the Tuaparang if they're involved, and then... then we revisit this. We find a way to deal with the issues between us. Right now, we don't have time. But I promise that when we know that the world is as safe as we can make it..."

Jenna's gaze was still directed toward the ground. "There's... there's no justice in the world, is there? For the last four years, the only thing keeping us apart was us. Was... was me. And now, when we're finally ready to make amends, we have to put our own needs behind the safety of everyone else."

She shut her eyes firmly. When she opened them again, however, they were full of fire. And she was staring straight at her husband. "I'm ready for it, Isaac. Let's do this, go home, and somehow, someway, put the past behind us."

Isaac kept his expression completely neutral. "Are you willing to work with Mia again? Like it or not, she's involved, too. She's part of the team, for one. She's the best healer we know and if we do need to go anywhere dangerous, I'm contacting her - I'd rather have everyone come back in one piece. And when we try to get everything resolved, she'll need to have her say. "

"Whatever it takes," Jenna replied, "I'm there."

And Isaac's face lit up, half with triumph and half with relief. "Good to hear, love. Good to hear."

He stood abruptly. "You should probably pack your gear. We're leaving tomorrow."

Jenna's eyebrows shot up. "Tomorrow? B-but... don't you need to tell Ivan and Garet? And what about the kids? What about Matthew, when's he getting back?"

"Ivan and Garet are probably packed by now. And Tyrell and Karis are with Kraden," Isaac said as he started for the door. "They're waiting for Matthew in Patcher's Place. When he shows up, they'll be following after us."

Jenna stood up and grabbed his shoulder to stop him. "But... so you planned this?" She cocked an eyebrow. "What if I had said no?"

Isaac smirked. "Well, then I would've had a lot of explaining to do, wouldn't I?"

Jenna narrowed her eyes and gave a wiry smile. "You magnificent _bastard._" She grabbed Isaac's collar and pulled his lips down to hers. He wrapped his arms around her, and when they finally came apart for a breath, she continued. "I waited four years for that. Don't make me regret it!"

Isaac let her go. "Oh, believe me, I intend to make it worth your while... eventually," he said with a playful smile. He opened the door and, waving a goodbye, left her to her business.

Jenna laughed to herself. So THAT was why she had married him. She turned and went to her room - THEIR room, she corrected herself - to pack her gear, and then spent the rest of the day in the woods looking for things to set on fire. She was out of practice, after all.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Sorry for 2 days without chapters, guys. Tuesday, I was pretty busy but still got half a chapter done. Wednesday, I spent all of my free time sleeping. Turns out spending 3 hours a night writing ROMANTIC JRPG FANFICTION (tm) takes a lot out of you! I would stop if it wasn't so much fun. It's like reading but I get to decide what happens next, to a certain extent!_

_I mean, sometimes stuff just kind of happens without any input from me. Like Matthew's dream sequence up there. It kind of grew on its own._

_One thing I want to do with this story is to develop some of the characters who didn't get much screentime in the games. Mia and Rief are obvious choices, but I want to look into Tyrell particularly because all I knew about him by the end was that he was a headstrong asshole. There's gotta be more there than that, and there's gotta be some REASON for it._

_Keep up the reviews please, you guys! I love hearing criticism, I hate feeling like every decision I make might be completely wrong. At least let me know if stuff bugs you. Like, that blurb about how healing spells work in DoJ canon? Don't like it? Yell at me and tell me why! I have a lot of places I want to go with this fanfic universe (two multi-chapter fics and one single-shot are already in my mind for once I hit the end of this) and I'd like to know who I will and won't be pleasing._


	8. With a Twist

**"No! I must kill the Nintendo and Camelot!" said Golden Sun.**

**"No, Golden Sun, you ARE The Nintendo and Camelot."**

**And then Golden Sun was a fanfiction.**

* * *

Sveta woke with a start.

She took a deep breath in and immediately began to cough. Her throat was sore, and her nose was stuffed to oblivion. Her chest hurt, a throbbing pain that intensified with each breath she took.

What... what was going on? It was so cold...

She tried to sit up, but fell back down almost immediately. She could barely tell which direction was which. Was that up? Down? Maybe she had tried to sit sideways. She couldn't figure it out.

"Whh... hello? Who... Where am I?" Sveta coughed. "Please... help..." Her speech was heavily slurred. She coughed again.

Her thoughts were clouded. Dimly, it occurred to her that her psynergy would help her somewhat. She lifted her arms, brought them to her head and gave herself a Boon.

Instantly, her mind snapped to attention. She hadn't been able to get up because she was in a sleeping bag and her hands had slipped when she tried to right herself. Her surroundings were dark, but she could see light coming from the direction her feet were pointing. She coughed again. Sharp pains in her chest, but not from cracked ribs; she was familiar enough with that pain, and this was different.

She tried to sniff the air, but she could barely get anything past the mucus in her nose. Even so, she smelled a hint of smoke. Very carefully, she sat up. Her hands wouldn't quite go where she wanted them to, so it was a much greater ordeal than it otherwise would have been.

When she got a better look at her immediate vicinity, three things came to mind instantly. One, she was in a cave. Outside she could see an endless sheet of white, some snow coming down, and a few icicles hanging from the entrance. Two, there was a campfire right inside of the cave entrance. That was the source of the smoke. She could feel heat too, but for some reason it didn't make her feel warm.

Three, Doublon was in the cave. He was seated next to the fire, by all appearances asleep. His eyepatch was gone, but apparently he hadn't needed it; there was a perfectly good eye behind where it would have sat. He had left his sword at the cave entrance and some of the clothes he had been wearing before were draped in front of the fire.

Sveta's head swam. What had happened? The last thing she remembered was looking at the blue beacon of Mercury Lighthouse. Then darkness and confusion... and now she was in a cave. And it was so, so cold. She wrapped her arms around herself and shivered. She was close enough to the fire... why wasn't it warming her? Everything felt so wrong.

Another memory rose to her head. She had been falling. Perhaps she had fallen into water...? She remembered Doublon jumping after her. That would explain the clothes... he was still partially dressed, but he had removed his heavier items to let them dry. Sveta's heart froze for a moment before she realized she was still fully clothed. She wasn't sure what would have been worse - her captor undressing her while she was unconscious, or catching a cold because of wet clothing.

Sveta decided she had to know more. Doublon was still asleep. She had never read a person's mind while they slept before, but she doubted it would be much more difficult than usual. She crawled out of her sleeping bag carefully, and - not trusting her sense of balance enough to stand - continued on her hands and knees over to the wall where Doublon was resting.

She sat down carefully. With much difficulty, she suppressed another cough so as to avoid waking him. She took a slow breath in and let it out carefully. Then she raised a hand and held it over his forehead. She felt the wind psynergy that was her birthright welling up within her and opened herself up to the knowledge it would provide. She closed her eyes and let her Spirit Sense psynergy tell her what she wanted to know.

The world turned inside-out.

* * *

The room was sparsely furnished, with nothing but a table, a bed, a fireplace and a chair for decoration. In the bed was a woman, incredibly pale skin - almost blue - and with straight, red hair. In the chair was a slim man, dark-haired and with a ponytail. They were both about Sveta's age. The man's brow was furrowed and his hands were folded in front of him. Every so often, his eyes would dart over to the woman, as if expecting something from her. But she was unconscious, and she moved only to breathe in and out slowly.

All at once, she awoke. Her eyes opened, she gasped, and she looked around.

The man sat upright, his expression becoming one of disbelieving joy. She caught his eyes, and a smile crept onto her face before she seemed to remember something important and her expression became a scowl.

"What happened?" she said. "Felix? What are you doing here? How DARE you show your face to me after what you did?"

But the man - Felix? - just beamed. He cleared his throat. "Are... are you okay? You were injured. I didn't think you'd make it."

The woman looked distant for a moment. "The lighthouse. You... you lit it? You actually did it?"

Felix nodded.

"So... so you did it." The corners of her mouth began to drift upward again. "That almost makes it better, the fact that you're associating with the bastard who killed my sister."

She pulled her arms from beneath the covers and adjusted herself into a sitting position. "And what of Agatio? Is he alright?"

Felix's expression fell. "... He didn't make it. I'm still surprised you did, in fact, Karst. After what we did... I'm sorry for that, I wish we didn't have to..."

The woman - Karst - waved away his concerns. "Think nothing of it. We attacked you first, and our minds were not our own. I regret his death, but it was unavoidable. At least I was able to keep my promise of surviving until the lighthouse was lit, right?"

Felix nodded. "When the Mars Beacon appeared, a wave of energy came out of it. We think that it had some healing properties associated with it. You were not the only person to be revived from near-death. When we returned back down the tower and found you still breathing, we rushed you back to Prox. It's amazing that you woke up at all, considering the condition you were in."

Karst put a hand on her stomach. "There's nothing. No leftover pain or anything. It's like I was never hurt." She looked at him and finally let her smile return. "I'm sorry it had to be that way. I... am not sure I can ever forgive Isaac, but I can certainly forgive you, Felix. After all, you finished what my sister began. You... avenged her, somewhat." And then she began to shift herself to the edge of the bed.

The corners of the room darkened, and a change came over Felix's face. Where there once was a clean-shaven face was now a scraggly beard and eyes weathered by years of torment. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he jumped out of his chair. Karst swung her legs off of the side of the bed, and for a moment, the only light in the room was focused on the two of them. She sat up.

And she fell.

Felix stretched an arm out as if to catch her, but he couldn't reach her. His mouth opened, but no sound came out. She landed, catching herself with her hands, but her legs didn't move.

She looked at him, a terrifying, stretched expression of horror on her face. "Felix... my legs..."

Tears poured out of her twisted eyes. "Why can't I feel my legs?"

* * *

Doublon's eyes snapped open. Sveta reeled back from the sudden shock of the dream ending. Doublon looked at her and his eyes narrowed.

"Don't do that to me EVER again," he growled," not EVER!" He shoved her back and she flopped on the floor of the cave.

In a daze, she sat back up and looked at his face. No doubt about it; it was the same one as the man in the dream. Her mind made the connection. "But... you're Felix? You're one of the Warriors of Vale, why are yyy..." Her tongue wouldn't move the way she wanted it to and her vision swam. She paused to let herself recover.

His eyes widened, realizing what he had just done. He rushed over to where she lay. He helped her back to her sleeping bag and wrapped her tightly in her blankets. She was shivering uncontrollably, her teeth audibly chattering. "Don't try to talk", Felix said. "You were in the cold too long and you need to conserve your strength. Hopefully we can get you some help... one way or another."

He looked around the cave quickly, and with few other options just decided to move Sveta a little closer to the fire. He sighed a defeated sigh. "When night falls, we'll make our way to Imil. It isn't far from here, and they probably have some more supplies. I'd... rather avoid attention, if possible."

He sat down in his previous position on the wall. "I'm serious about reading my mind. Stay out. You won't like what you see."

Sveta looked at him for a few moments longer. What could possibly have made him join the Tuaparang? Did it have something to do with that woman, maybe? It was right after the lighting of the Mars Lighthouse, which meant right before the Golden Sun Event... which meant thirty years ago. He was still dreaming about it thirty years after the fact. She must have meant a lot to him.

Sveta let her head fall to the ground. She coughed helplessly and let her eyes droop. She wanted to ask him more, but... she was so tired. She needed rest.

Yes, rest was all she needed...

...But why was it so cold...?

* * *

"So, it looks like there are no survivors. Welp, too bad! Serves 'em right, the Tuaparang buggers."

Mia looked sharply at her son. "Rief, it doesn't matter who they are. Part of being a healer is helping anyone who needs it. Prejudice can't factor into it. For all we know, they could've been freedom fighters disguised as warriors."

Rief sighed. "Well, they were flying in an airship, Mom. If they were freedom fighters, they must've been pretty well off." He looked up. "And it seems to me that they probably had something to do with that vortex that just appeared, as well. Maybe they screwed up and it caused their engine to overheat?"

"Maybe..." Mia paused. She examined the wreck of the airship more closely. It had crashed hard, but most of it was still intact. None of the ten soldiers onboard had survived impact with the ground, but she noticed that there were two seats unfilled. "Rief, what do you think about this? Maybe some of them got out okay. We should search the area and do our best to help them if we find them."

Rief's jaw dropped. "But... but Moooom! They're Tuaparang! They caused the Grave Eclipse! They're... they're DICKS!"

Mia folded her arms. She said nothing.

Rief pouted. "But..."

His mother remained silent.

Rief sighed and put his hands into his pockets. "For the record? This won't end well. Either we'll be out here, freezing our butts off when there's no one to find, or we'll find them and they'll attack us on sight."

Mia put a hand over her eyes to shield them from the afternoon sun. "Or they'll be thankful to us for saving them, and tell us all about their nation's evil plans. What do you think of that?"

Rief's shoulders dropped. "I think... maybe. Well, fine. I mean, just in case it happens. But I reserve the right to say I told you so if I'm correct."

Mia looked at him with a grin. "So do I. Now let's go, there's a cave over in that direction that looks promising."

She set off, Rief dragging his feet somewhat as he followed her. Stupid heroic mom. Why couldn't he have gone back with Matthew's gang?

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_I hope the reveal doesn't seem too contrived. I decided around Chapter 3 that this was his situation, and I've been trying to throw in bits of foreshadowing all along. Remember when he picked up like, 4 guys at once? And remember when I emphasized how much Djinn improve a person's strength?_

_Sorry for the short chapter again... I can't really go anywhere else without encountering serious mood whiplash. To be honest, this is probably a better chapter length for me because I can't spare much time at night to write. I prefer to do a chapter all in one sitting because otherwise I lose the tone. To make up for the short chapters I'll try to do them more frequently; a chapter every day or two is probably what you can expect._

_And please, PLEASE keep up the reviews! I've had some great ones recently that were very informative. Even if you don't have anything on the technical side of things, I'd love to hear specifically what people like and don't like. Can't make anyone read something that they don't want to read about, of course!_

_...So, so glad I don't have to write "Doublon" anymore. It was a stupid name._


	9. Conflicting Emotions

**JGD: MAIN SCREEN TURN ON.**

**JGD: ITS YOU.**

**NINTENDO AND CAMELOT: HOW ARE YOU GENTLEMEN.**

**NINTENDO AND CAMELOT: ALL YOUR GOLDEN SUN ARE BELONG TO US.**

**NINTENDO AND CAMELOT: YOU HAVE NO CHANCE TO SURVIVE OWN THE RIGHTS TO YOUR FIC.**

**JGD: WHAT YOU SAY IS CORRECT.**

**NINTENDO AND CAMELOT: HA HA HA.**

**JGD (in real life): I am so, so sorry.**

* * *

When Matthew reached Patcher's Place, he was in high spirits. When he saw his friends on the roof helping to patch a hole torn in the attacks, he was elated. And when he remembered that he couldn't really tell them about the news with Sveta, he should have been dismayed, but somehow keeping the secret just made him giddy.

Tyrell was the one who saw him first. He looked up from the nail he was hammering in, and immediately jumped to his feet, waving his arms like a madman. He turned, taking a step toward Karis (apparently to explain himself) and his leg drove a hole directly into the weakened roof, completely undoing all of the work he had done over the past hour.

Matthew laughed. It had only been a week or two since he had last seen his friends, but he had missed them already. Seeing Tyrell doing something so... so Tyrell, right after meeting them again, was a breath of fresh air.

Karis carefully pulled Tyrell to his feet and they both climbed down the ladder they had used for roof access. Matthew beamed as he walked up to them. Tyrell cradled his leg gingerly as Karis gave Matthew a friendly hug.

"How was Morgal? You seem happy... I guess nothing went wrong, then?" Karis cocked her head slightly.

Matthew just nodded. He had been trying to talk a little more, but he was terrified that if he spoke too much he'd let something slip. After all, he had spent just about the entire walk over there thinking about all the things he could do when he had another chance to go to Belinsk. His daydreams had been full of daring plots to fake kidnappings, brilliant exploitations of loopholes to get himself classified as technically "royalty", and... well, more than one midnight rendezvous.

Tyrell laughed. "Well, glad to hear your visit was short. How's Sveta doing?"

Matthew tried to keep his expression neutral as he bit his lip and nodded again.

Karis and Tyrell looked at each other. "Well, that's Matthew alright," Tyrell said. "Let's go inside. Kraden's sitting and... I dunno, talking to Patcher or something. I think he's trying to keep me out of Patcher's sight. Pretty thoughtful, really." His eyes widened. "Karis! Please don't tell him I broke his roof again!"

Karis rolled her eyes. Matthew just laughed.

* * *

He had thrown his sword aside - his lifeline, his anchor, his straitjacket. It was his final defense and his final restraint. But for now, he needed the freedom. He would risk his own doom, if just for a moment.

Slowly, surely, he felt the life of the world return to him. He felt the pulse of the land beneath him. He felt the spark of his own soul, and the soul of the one who was with him. At first it was just a trickle; then, all at once, it was a torrent. A wonderful, beautiful torrent. He knew he was in danger, but he didn't care. He would risk it all just for another few moments of exposure to the power of Venus - his birthright, and for now, his anathema.

He had taken in too much already. He felt it welling up inside of him, enough raw power to shake down a mountain... or bring up a new one. Enough to turn a wasteland fertile, and enough to give the dead a fighting chance at life. And if he didn't stop it, he felt he might burst. No, that wasn't quite it. He wouldn't be bursting.

Reality itself would.

He reluctantly stood and began to move toward his blade when he felt it: two incredible, shining beacons of life, approaching quite quickly. He ran and grabbed his sword and, suppressing a gag, let it all drain from him. Better safe than sorry.

But he would not be able to disguise his hideaway before the interlopers arrived. He left the fire going to make it seem as though they had gone undetected, and forced himself as close to the wall as possible, hoping to gain the element of surprise. He kept quiet and listened. He kept quiet even when he knew he recognized one of the voices. Especially when he recognized one of the voices.

"...well, duh, Rief, because there was a FIRE in it."

"But there's no way you could've seen the fire from all the way over there! It was the middle of the day!"

"We can see it now. And I was right, wasn't I? So I get to say I told you so."

"Ugh, smells kind of like... wet dog or something."

"Maybe they had a pet! I don't know. Hello, in there! Anyone still alive? Two friendly Mercury Adepts, fully capable of healing any of you who are injured! Just step out of the-"

"Wait, is that...? It's Sveta!"

Felix heard footsteps rapidly approaching. Under any other circumstance, he would have prepared to attack with the element of surprise. But as a single blue-clad foot passed by the entrance of the cave, he hesitated, and the initiative was lost.

When Felix made his move, he didn't draw his blade; instead, he attempted to slam his opponent with the weight of his own body. Time seemed to slow as he threw himself forward, and the boy's spectacled eyes went wide for a moment... just before they took on a look of focus sharp enough to cut diamond.

Some of the snow scattered on the ground melted, came together together, and all at once formed into a wide barrier of ice. Felix slammed into it, and while it shattered immediately, it destroyed his momentum and left him staggered. All he had time to do was regain his balance before the boy made his counterattack.

Hundreds of tiny shards of ice appeared as if out of nowhere, and Felix's heart froze. The ice shards darted toward him as he instinctively drew his blade from its scabbard.

The sword, black as pitch, seemed to glow for a moment, and the ice shards faded as they returned from whence they came.

The boy looked faint for a moment as he leaned heavily on his staff for balance. Felix kicked the staff out from under him and he fell to the ground unharmed. One down, one to go.

He rounded on his other opponent but made no move. He only hoped that his appearance had changed enough in the last few decades to -

"Wait... Felix? Felix, what did you do to my son? Get back, get away from him!"

Ugh. No luck.

* * *

"So... I don't know if you've heard, but there's a vortex that just appeared near Venus Lighthouse. Our parents have gone ahead, and, umm, Kraden took us up here to wait for you!"

Matthew nodded. What Karis had just said wasn't too surprising. His father had never said so exactly, but Matthew suspected that Isaac had been getting restless without any sort of quest, mission or catastrophe to avert.

Tyrell limped after them as they went inside of the central structure. "Yeah, hopefully your parents have calmed down by now. I was kind of glad to see Kalay still standing when we left, to be honest." Karis glared at him. Matthew shrugged. He was used to that too by now.

They found Kraden sipping tea in a chair near the window, enjoying the peace of Patcher's tavern. He looked up as they approached and smiled that same wise smile he had had for as long as they all remembered.

"Ah, you found him! I assume things went well in Morgal?"

Matthew nodded.

Kraden took a long drink of his tea to finish it. "Alright, that means we can leave! Karis, Tyrell, you should go gather your things from your rooms. I'll just write a letter to send to Isaac via carrier pigeon, and then we can go."

Karis and Tyrell turned to go as Kraden took a sheaf of paper from his bag. Matthew simply stood for a moment. "Umm..."

Kraden looked up as if surprised. "Oh! Right, Matthew! Well, if you wish, you can go get a drink and then wait here with me. I have little to pack; I'm used to traveling light."

Matthew smiled politely and then turned to go to the cafe. He ordered a coffee, and went to sit down with Kraden.

But before he could take a drink, a man burst into the room.

"Bilibin has just declared war on Morgal!"

* * *

It looked like a stalemate, but Mia knew better. Felix's sword - whatever it was - had just absorbed her son's attack as if it was nothing. He hadn't struck back, but it was a hostage situation; she didn't know what he intended for either of them. She didn't know where he had been for the last 30 years, or what had changed him since then.

So she asked.

"Felix... what happened? Why are you doing this, what could possibly bring you to attack Rief like that? We're friends! It's... what's wrong?"

Felix looked at her with one eye. He looked back at Rief, then at Sveta. His stance faltered.

Then a cascade of water appeared over the campfire all at once, drowning it out and filling the cave with smoke. And less than a second later, Mia's staff was in Felix's face and her knee was in his crotch.

Felix doubled over in pain, but his sword brushed Mia's leg as he bent down. She felt all of her energy draining out of her; a deep depression took hold and she felt like all that was good and well in the world had vanished. All of the strength left her legs and she simply collapsed on the cave floor.

Felix hurried to put his sword away, but the damage was done. Still coughing because of the smoke, he quickly leaned down to her level to make sure she was alright. Meanwhile, Rief had finally struggled to his feet, and he hurried over to Sveta to get her to fresh air. She was still unconscious.

Thinking quickly, he tried to erect a quick shelter from the cold, but when he tried to use his psynergy, nothing happened. He realized he was tapped out. He did his best to shelter Sveta from the wind with his own body as he checked her vitals.

Felix carried Mia out of the cave and laid her gently on the snow. Her eyes were still partially open, but she was limp. Felix quickly unbuckled his sword and its sheath, then planted it in the snow a short distance away - hopefully with Mia out of its area of influence.

Rief looked up at Felix and stood as tall as he was able to. "Who are you, and what did you do to my friend and my mom?" he shouted. Rief didn't cut a very intimidating figure, but he tried his best.

Felix looked back, defeated. His eyes reflected the indecision in his heart, and his shoulders slumped helplessly. "I... I'm Felix. I was one of the Warriors of Vale. Now... I don't know if I deserve that title."

Rief lowered his guard slightly, but kept his eye on Felix. "I don't know what you've done to either of us, or to my friend Sveta, but I need you to stop fighting _right now_. Whatever you did left me without my psynergy, and if Sveta doesn't get attention immediately, she's going to die. I can't even tell what's wrong with her yet."

He narrowed his eyes. "You're a Venus Adept, aren't you? I remember the stories now. Powerful Venus adepts can sense life force, that's how you saw us coming. Why couldn't you tell how near-death she is? Why haven't you already tried to heal her?"

Felix was speechless. He hastily opened his travel bag and looked through it, but shook his head - he didn't find what he was looking for. He threw it aside and stood between Rief and Mia. "Don't worry," he said. "I'm not going to hurt you. Just hold on."

There was a bright yellow flash emanating from Felix for a moment - a flash Rief recognized as a Djinn being unleashed - and Rief felt some of his strength return to him. He looked at Sveta and opened his mind. Information on all aspects of her health flooded into his thoughts. "She has a mild concussion; that won't be too hard to fix... And she has a very bad cold. She's feverish. I can calm that, but it'll have to heal on its own over time." He paused. "Felix, she has severe hypothermia. She's still wet, too. Why didn't you get her out of her clothes? Wait, don't answer that. I'm going to do what I can for her now, and once she's awake she can handle that herself."

Rief got down on his knees and set his staff aside. He glared at Felix. "For future reference, when a girl falls into arctic water, her survival should override her modesty. Got it?" Felix nodded. "Good. Now do what you can for my mom and maybe we can figure out what's going on all together."

And so they got to work.

* * *

Matthew stood immediately and looked at the man who had just entered.

"I just came from Carver's Camp! Bilibin's declared war on Morgal! I heard that Border Town to the north was closed to hide the fact that their armies were massing there!"

Matthew ran up to the man. "Are you sure? I need to know that you're absolutely certain."

"I'm as certain as I can be. I've only heard rumors, but they're stepping up recruitment programs too. Either war has already started, or it's going to soon."

Matthew nodded. He turned and walked back to the table where Kraden sat, aghast, just as Karis and Tyrell returned.

Kraden looked at the younger ones with sadness in his expression. "I suppose Sveta's abilities as a queen will be tested all too soon. What an unfortunate twist of fate..."

Matthew shook his head. "Change of plan. We're going to Bilibin. Now, if not sooner."

The rest of the group began to protest, but Matthew silenced them with a wave of his hand. "Morgal was hit worse by the Eclipse than Bilibin, and Sveta's having trouble coping with the stress of rebuilding anyway. There's no chance they'll make it."

Karis looked unsure. "But what about our parents? They're waiting for us. Aren't the vortexes more important?"

Matthew looked at Kraden. "If you can write a letter to them saying what happened, I'm sure they'll understand. It's not like they're new at this saving the world thing." Kraden looked grim, but he nodded in agreement. He crumpled up the letter he had been writing and began anew.

Tyrell and Karis stood staring at Matthew. He looked back at them and said, "You should probably stock up on whatever supplies you need here. Once we reach Bilibin, there's no telling what we'll need to do or how we'll be received. As soon as Kraden's done, we're on the road to Carver's Camp and the Bilibin border. We can gather information along the way.

"Hopefully we can resolve this without violence. Our parents knew the first Lord McCoy, and his son has probably heard the stories too. If all goes well, we can probably convince them to seek a diplomatic resolution. If not... worst case scenario, we take on the Bilibin army ourselves. Any questions?"

Karis was silent, but she had a look of determination in her eyes. Tyrell raised his hand with a smirk. "When did you suddenly become a talking kind of guy?"

Matthew smiled. "If that's everything, I recommend we get started. If we hurry, we can reach the border by sunset."

He sat down with his drink. "It certainly didn't take long for things to get exciting again, did it?"

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_I had the Mass Effect 2 Suicide Mission theme playing when I wrote Matthew's speech there. Hopefully it wasn't too campy. I'm not happy with the concluding sentence, but I can always edit it later, right? Similarly, it feels weird to me that a guy would just show up and start shouting about recent events. If I find a better solution, I'll change it._

_One of my biggest problems when writing is that I love to use limited viewpoints too much - that is, I love to force characters to make decisions while they're lacking in essential information. Matthew probably wouldn't be going to Bilibin if he knew Sveta had been kidnapped (he'd be out there looking for her, of course!) and the encounter in Imil would've gone differently if Rief hadn't assumed Felix was hostile. _

_The thing is, while this helps to make the story feel realistic, I'm not all that great (I think) at making sure the READERS realize what characters know and don't know. It's best to assume in this story that if a character says something in an internal monologue, it's what they THINK is true, not necessarily what the reality is. Kraden and Ivan might be completely mistaken about how psynergy vortexes work, for example (not saying they are!), and the yellow flash Rief saw might not have been a Djinn (not saying it wasn't!). _

_Hopefully that wasn't too confusing. As usual, send me a PM or post a review if you need something cleared up!_

_And please, PLEASE give me some criticism. I don't care if it's a matter of personal preference or what. Don't like how the story's going? Tell me. Think I'm a sappy asshole for writing romfics? Tell me! I wouldn't post these online if I didn't care about what the readers thought. I will do my very best to address any concerns anybody has!_


	10. Breaking Point

The healing process was slow-going.

On Felix's end, Mia was nonresponsive, but physically completely healthy. Rief didn't know what to make of it, but he could guess; something about that dark sword drained psynergy something fierce. He thought back to the vortex he got too close to several weeks ago. The feeling he felt then - emptiness, sadness, weakness - was nothing compared to what it felt to just be within a few centimeters of Felix's sword. And his mother had actually come in contact with it. The effects of psynergy deprivation on adepts had never been studied, but... maybe this was it?

Sveta, on the other hand, was just physically ill. He had cured her concussion and mended all of the physical damage, but she still had a very bad cold... and hypothermia of that extent would take a bit more work than Rief could manage at that moment. He had done what he could, but he was tapped again. Sveta was stable but Mia needed all the psynergy boosts they could spare.

When Rief had first begun to see to her, Sveta was unconscious, shivering pathetically in her drenched royal garments. He had since cast several spells: mostly healing, but also some protection from cold and basic vitality boosters. Despite what he had said to Felix, he still couldn't bring himself to get Sveta out of her wet outfit, but she was out of danger and sleeping peacefully. She'd hopefully wake up any minute. Right now, she had a smile on her face and occasionally her leg would give a few playful kicks. Once the smoke cleared from the cave, she'd be safe to move back in.

Felix leaned over Mia and Rief saw several more bright yellow flashes emanating from him. Felix then walked back to where his sword was placed, gripped its handle firmly for several seconds, and then turned back and went through the process of re-setting the Djinn he had unleashed. Rief wished he could help, but he didn't have any Djinn capable of restoring psynergy - he had left the rest of the group with a full complement of Mercury Djinn, and most of them were designed for healing anyway.

"Hey, Felix? What's up with the sword? Why do you keep touching it like that?"

Felix gave him a look of warning. "It's... just important. I have to. If I don't, the consequences could be dire, and no, I'm not feeling too inclined to tell you what the consequences are. Don't you have a patient to attend to?"

Rief stood up. "Sveta's fine now. There's nothing more I can do for her at this point. I... I think she'll be fine. But honestly, I don't know. She'll need constant attention for the next bit unless we find another solution. And, well," Rief stared intently into Felix's eyes as he said this, "I'm sure you wouldn't be all the way up here if you didn't have a good reason. Am I right?"

Felix narrowed his eyes, but he nodded.

"And this reason," Rief continued, "must be quite important if it was enough to pull Sveta away from her KINGDOM. You know, Morgal? The place where she currently holds the office of Queen? Yeah, I haven't heard anything, but I'd love to know how they're taking her disappearance."

Felix said nothing.

Rief nodded in the direction he and his mother had come from. "And what about that Tuaparang airship over there? Does that factor into the equation at all?"

Felix cocked an eyebrow. "...You know about us?"

There was silence.

Us?

Rief didn't know how to respond. "Y...! I..." He paused to collect his thoughts. "I think... I think we should wait until my mother's awake for this. I'll just... yeah."

Probably time to wake up Sveta after all.

* * *

"So how'd it go, Isaac?"

Ivan stood the door to his guest room, where Isaac was sitting, all packed and ready for another trip. The sun was low in the sky and he should probably have been getting prepared for bed - they had a busy day tomorrow, of course - but he wanted to make sure the plan was still on.

Isaac gave a quick thumbs-up. "Officially? We've got a truce. But I think we're both hoping for a better end result than that." He shrugged. "I don't know what I can hope for, but who knows how long this thing will last? It might just be the one vortex, but it might spiral out of control. These things tend to happen that way."

Ivan nodded. "So you're hoping that when she gets a taste of adventure again...?"

"She'll remember why she married me in the first place, yes." Isaac smiled. "Just as planned."

Ivan's expression remained neutral. "I don't know. A quick adventure might provide a distraction, but it won't just magically solve your problems." He paused and put his chin in his hand. "Do you think she might be a little more receptive to...?"

Isaac inclined his head slightly. "To... mindreading, you mean?" Ivan gave a curt nod. Isaac frowned. "Well, I don't know. You could ask her, but honestly, I'd prefer that we got on the road first. She's in a good enough mood tonight that I don't want to change her mind by bringing up... unwanted memories."

Ivan sighed. "You can't avoid the issue forever, Isaac. I believe you, you know I do. I've seen what you've seen. Which is why it perplexes me that you're trying to dodge around and find other solutions. If you know you're in the right, why not find supporting evidence? Getting Mia to pitch in in your defense obviously wouldn't help, but you've got to have some witnesses or... or something, right?"

Isaac turned away. "Look... I've tried everything I can think of. The only people who were in the area at the time are me, Mia and Jenna. Our stories don't match. Nothing makes sense. I can't actually find anything to support my side of the story, except 'Mia didn't end up pregnant,' which I'd rather not bring up and which isn't very solid anyway." He looked back at Ivan. "Not to be rude, but can we change the subject? I'm looking forward to tomorrow. I'll enjoy it while it lasts, and if it's doomed to fail, then..." He let the comment trail off.

Ivan shook his head. "Alright, fine. If you say so. I just wanted to come by and make sure everything's okay. If you'd rather, I'll stay away from Jenna for the evening, but I feel like getting a look at what happened from her perspective is the only thing that'll fix this. Heck, even seeing what Mia thinks of it all would help. You're going to have to face this at some point, Isaac. But we're friends, and if it's that important to you, then I guess it can wait."

Isaac nodded. "Thanks."

Ivan sighed. No use forcing the issue. "Have a good sleep. See you in the morning." And then he turned and left.

Isaac simply laid on the guest bed and stared at the ceiling.

* * *

Rief shook Sveta lightly. She groaned and rolled over. "Mmmm... too early..."

"Sveta," he said. "Sveta, wake up."

She opened her eyes a crack. "Nrrrrgh... Matthew?"

Rief involuntarily jerked back. "Huh? No, it's Rief. Why did you think I was Matthew?"

Sveta opened her eyes fully. She examined her surroundings and her ears drooped. "...Oh." She took a deep breath and coughed a few times. "Did you do something for me while I was asleep? Thank you, whatever it was. I feel much better now."

Rief just stared. "Sure. You didn't answer my question, though."

"What question?"

"Why did you think I was Matthew?"

Sveta blushed. "Oh, I was dreaming, I guess. I just had not fully awoke, perhaps? That sounds about right."

Rief sighed. "I have so many things I would love to say about that, but now isn't the time for snarkiness. My mom and I just happened to be out here. How'd you get here, why are you with my mom's long-lost adventuring partner, and what does all this have to do with the downed Tuaparang airship we found a little north of here?"

"Oh. Umm..." Sveta blinked. "It is a long story. And it is going to sound very strange, but trust me, it makes sense."

Rief looked at his mother on the ground, and then at Felix, resetting his djinn again. "I've got plenty of time, I guess. Go ahead."

Sveta cleared her throat. "Well, Matthew came to visit, umm, things happened, and then I decided I wanted to be kidnapped. And then Mr Felix came and kidnapped me coincidentally, though I did not mind greatly, and then there was an explosion on the airship, and... oh, dear." She trailed off.

Rief paused. "Wait, he k-kidnapped you? And... what?"

Sveta blushed. "There is a lot more to the story. I know not why Mr Felix wanted to kidnap me, but I am fine with it! Really! I cannot tell you why, but believe me, there is a good reason."

Rief paused again. The he put his face into his palm. "This isn't helping at all."

"I am sorry." Sveta sneezed, and continued. "I wish I could be more help. Maybe if you asked Mr Felix?"

Felix looked over. "Stop calling me Mr Felix. Just Felix is good. And I'd really rather avoid talking about this any more than I need to. Hopefully they'll realize that we haven't returned and send a search-and-rescue team. With any luck, we'll be back on track by tomorrow night, and nobody will know any more than they need to." He gave Rief a harsh look. "Understood?"

Rief glared at Felix. "I'm not letting you take Sveta anywhere until I know she'll be safe. She needs medical attention that I can't provide here. And let's not forget about my mother. You put her into this mess in the first place."

Felix walked over to Mia and unleashed a few Earth djinn in quick succession. Again, he returned to his blade, gripped the hilt, and began to set the djinn for continued use. "I'm doing my best, but I've never been much of a medic. Are you sure there's nothing you can do to help?"

Rief thought for a moment. "I don't have any djinn, and I don't have any psy crystals. Wait a moment..." Rief's eyes widened. "The lighthouse. We can take her up there."

Felix shook his head. "No."

"What?"

"I said no."

"Why not?"

Felix gestured to the lighthouse, still visible from where they sat. "You see that vortex up there? I have reason to believe it appeared because I was nearby. That's all it took. You go up there, I'm not going with you, and neither is Sveta. I still have my mission to think of."

Rief stomped his foot. "Setting aside your stupid mission for a second, Sveta could benefit from the lighthouse too. She'll be with two trained Mercury Adepts on top of the world's source of Mercury Psynergy. She'll be back in perfect condition in no time. And you'd rather keep her here, dying of hypothermia?"

Sveta cringed. "I am... dying? But I do not feel-"

Rief threw his arms out. "Okay, so you aren't dying right now. But if we hadn't arrived in time, you might not even be breathing at this point. I don't mean to scare you, but you need this. Badly. Can you walk?"

Sveta picked herself up off the ground. "I... I feel shaky, but-"

"Hold on," Felix said, "You've forgotten about the vortex up there. Sveta can't handle it."

"Oh, what now?" Rief shouted in exasperation.

Felix sighed, weighing his words. "When we were in the airship... well, when the vortex appeared, she looked at it. And that was all it took. Something happened to her, she got all... feral. She just lost it. The reason we aren't in that wreck right now is that she bailed out, and I jumped after her. I don't know what's wrong, but if she goes nuts just from LOOKING at one of those things, I don't want to see what'll happen when she gets too close."

Rief raised an eyebrow. "What makes you think it was the vortex? That seems like a bit of a leap to make."

Nobody said anything for several seconds. Then Felix growled and pointed at Rief. "Look, kid. Rief, was it? I'm not telling you this because I like you. I'm telling you this because I WILL accomplish my mission whether you like it or not, and the success of that mission relies heavily on her survival. The truth is, the Tuaparang scientists wanted to study the effects of a psynergy vortex on a beastman, or in this case, a beastwoman. They think that since the entire race appeared shortly after the Golden Sun event, they must have roots in psynergy, which would make them vulnerable in some way to vortexes. I think it's no coincidence she went nuts right after the vortex appeared, and I think if she's going to be exposed to them again, it should be in controlled laboratory conditions, and not because some cocky little kid had a gut feeling. Sound about right?"

Rief stared in shock, and Sveta's eyes welled up with tears, the betrayal she felt showing plainly on her face. "Mr Felix... how could you? You knew this would happen all along, and you did it anyway?"

Felix rolled his eyes. "Again, I was kidnapping you. What did you expect, a tea party? I still don't even understand why you came so readily."

"It doesn't matter why you took her," Rief said. He took up his staff and assumed his battle stance. "She's my patient, and my friend. I don't care what kind of past you had with my mother and her friends, but if you've stooped so low as to kidnap girls for experimentation-"

"Enough!" Felix shouted. "I've done things for the Tuaparang that I'm not proud of. I'll continue to after this. But nothing you can do can stop me from taking her with me. Don't even try it. It won't end well."

Rief laughed. "Oh, come on. That's the best you've got? We took on TWO of your generals and came out on top. Sure, it's just Sveta and I now, but what makes you think this'll be any different? Bring it on."

But Felix's angry expression had left him. In its place was a look of nervous confusion. "You... wait, you took on two of us? Which ones? Did they make it out alive?"

"Rief..." Sveta pleaded.

But Rief ignored her. "Blados and Chalis. And no, they were still up in Apollo Sanctum, last I saw them. They weren't looking too great. Why?" He smiled maliciously. "Did you know them?"

Felix's eyes narrowed. "For your sake, I hope they survived. Especially Chalis. The High Empyror... I don't think he had heard anything from them when I left. If he hears they're dead, he might do something rash. Let me spell it out for you: YOU DON'T WANT THAT TO HAPPEN."

Felix did one final round of Djinn unleashes, and then he strapped on his sword. "Change of plan. We're going to the lighthouse. If you're telling the truth, Weyard is in serious danger and we need every single one of the Warriors of Vale in top form."

Rief's face displayed a look of horror. He was at a loss for words. "...Oh. Uh. Did we do something wrong?"

Felix picked up Mia and draped her over his shoulder, careful to keep her on the side opposite his sword. "Hmm, I don't know! You've pissed off the leader of the single most advanced nation in the world. And hey, you managed to do it right after they accomplished their greatest technological leap yet. I'd say you screwed something up!"

Sveta tried to take a step forward, but stumbled. Rief caught her and supported her as they began walking toward Mercury Lighthouse. "What happened? Why would he be so concerned about that pair specifically?"

Felix looked grim. "Not the pair. The one," he said. "Chalis was one of two natural adepts in the entire Tuaparang Empire. The other was her brother."

He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth. "The High Empyror himself."


	11. Slip of the Tongue

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. If you feel like throwing money at someone for creating a fantastic series, you should throw money at them. They might even reward you by keeping up their good work! Just a thought.**

* * *

"Okay, let's start again at the beginning. I'd like to know about your connection to the Tuaparang, first."

Rief and Felix were trudging through the snow and ice on their way to Mercury Lighthouse. Felix was carrying Mia over his shoulder very carefully, doing his best to keep her from touching even his scabbard. Rief was supporting Sveta, both her arms draped around him as she struggled to keep her balance. She threw out the occasional cough, but she was significantly better than before. At least she could walk now.

Felix nodded. "I'm one of the four generals. Doublon was the name I went by - we all had pseudonyms based on the suits in the Minor Arcana. Decades ago, I left home in search of a cure for... well, an issue a loved one had. Blados knew me from before the Golden Sun Event, and when he heard what I was looking for he told me about Tuaparang and its incredible technological advancements. So I took him up on his offer. Next thing I knew, I was an elite commando under the most ambitious and competent 10-year-old I had ever seen. Yes, the High Empyror had already seized power when he was 10. I was impressed, too."

Rief had his doubts, but decided not to press the issue. "And so... you immediately went from saving the world to kidnapping innocent girls. Does that sound about right?"

"No. Not one bit," Felix said with a sigh. "It... sort of built up to that. At first all of my missions involved things like research, information gathering, things that benefited the nation of Tuaparang and caused no one harm. But... time dragged on. My girlfriend - Karst is her name - was under the supervision of their doctors for a very long time, with no progress anyone could identify. Eventually they told me something had gone wrong, and they needed to put her in stasis to save her life. It would have been an effective bargaining chip if I didn't already trust the High Empyror implicitly.

"You see, he's a good man. Incredibly intelligent, very charismatic, and he looks after his own. When he started giving me missions that were, well, morally questionable, he gave them with great reluctance. Kidnapping Sveta would have let Tuaparang know how vulnerable the people of Morgal were to psynergy vortexes, potentially saving them from great danger."

"So that's why you went with him, Sveta?" Rief asked.

Sveta shook her head. "This is all news to me." She had a short coughing fit, and then continued. "I went with him because I felt it would be best for all. I am a terrible queen, Rief. And the pressures of royalty restrict your options in... a number of ways, let us say."

Rief cocked an eyebrow. "I thought being a king or queen would have been great. You're rich, you're in charge of everything, and no one can tell you what to do."

Sveta gave a coughing laugh. "They absolutely can tell you what to do. People have their ways. And just as an example, did you know diplomatic solutions are often reached through marriage?" She was bluffing at this point; the issue had not actually come up. But the point had occurred to her one night. It was immediately after a nightmare, in fact. "Morgal's two main enemies at this point are Bilibin and Sana. It would not be unthinkable to guess that I would end up betrothed to McCoy the Third, if he was ever born - regardless of age, I might point out - or..." She shivered. "Ryu Kou."

"Oh. Ugh." Rief closed his eyes and shuddered in sympathy. "I never thought of that. It's almost worth getting kidnapped to escape that fate."

Felix rolled his eyes. "Anyway, as I said, the Empyror is a good man. But he's also ambitious. He's had almost his entire life to build up Tuaparang's military might and inspire their technological growth. At this point, they could defeat any regular army in the world with almost no losses. Those airships aren't even their most impressive devices. Of course, some talented adepts could stop them, but the Empyror knows firsthand of the incredible powers of psynergy. The Tuaparang armory has plenty of devices designed to sap or nullify psynergy. This sword is one," he said as he motioned to the greatsword on his back, "it's officially called a Psyblade, though it also carries the nickname Mage Masher. A side-effect of carrying it is that I generally can't use psynergy, but the Tuaparang scientists recently made an incredible technological discovery: they have identified the origin of Djinn."

Rief snapped his head toward Felix so quickly that Sveta almost lost her grip on his shoulders. "You mean they can make their own Djinn?"

"Not exactly," Felix replied. "They know how it works, and they can predict when it happens. But that gives them an advantage in identifying them and capturing them before anyone else." He laughed. "Djinn can only be used by adepts, and since I'm one of three adepts associated with the Tuaparang Empire in any form, I'm loaded for bear."

"That answers my next question," Rief said. "Carrying that sword can't be healthy. Look what it did to my Mom... and she just touched the blade for a second. But Djinn do an incredible job of enhancing an adept's natural abilities, including their vitality. That explains why you're so strong, but I still don't see why you would risk carrying a Mage Masher wherever you go."

Felix nodded. "Actually, it's for my own safety. How familiar are you with psynergy vortexes?"

Sveta said nothing, but Rief shrugged and said, "I've been right up close to one before. I know how they feel to be around. But I don't know much about how they work."

"They appear in places with a high concentration of alchemical energy, apparently," Felix explained. "It's like how a cart will break if you put too much weight on it. The fact that I have so many djinn with me at all times means that the amount of psynergy I could potentially use is beyond anything anyone has ever seen. The Empyror himself gave me this sword because he was concerned that I was pushing it a little. He didn't want to see me at the center of a hole in the world," he said with a smile.

Sveta coughed. "Rief, can we stop for a moment? I do not know if I can keep going like this for much longer." Rief nodded and set her down. Felix remained standing, still holding Mia gently with one arm.

When Sveta was seated, she looked at Felix with a look of sincerity. "Felix, you seem like a nice man. I do not know you well enough to judge you. But... I do not understand how you can trust the High Empyror."

Felix frowned. "Well, he was obviously right in this case. Look at that!" He motioned to the psynergy vortex near the top of Mercury Lighthouse, ever-so-gently sucking the light from the beacon at the top. "That happened because I came too close. The sheer number of djinn with me tipped the scales and spawned a vortex next to the source of all water psynergy. If I had had my full power available, it could have been catastrophic. Assuming, of course, that I hadn't torn open a vortex just by existing."

Sveta shook her head. "I am not sure. I cannot say whether or not he was correct in this case, but... I cannot abide by his actions, either. He is the root cause of the Grave Eclipse, and by extension, he ruined my nation and killed my brother."

"I'm not familiar with this Grave Eclipse you mention," Felix said with a furrowed brow. "What can you tell me about it?"

Rief spoke up first. "It's kind of how we met, actually. I was traveling with Matthew, Tyrell, and Karis -"

"Who?" Felix interrupted.

Rief raised an eyebrow. "Why, those are Isaac, Garet and Ivan's kids. You really didn't know?"

Felix shook his head. "I've been away for a long time, and if I had had my way, no one would have ever discovered my connection with the Tuaparang Empire. Looking for information on my old friends would have been too risky."

Rief sighed. "Sure, if you say so. Anyway, Blados and Chalis convinced Sveta's brother Volechek to order the activation of the Luna Tower, saying it was a weapon that could help Morgal against Sana and Bilibin. When it was activated, the shadow cast by the eclipse going on at that time just started spawning shadowy monsters. Everyone was caught by surprise. There must have been thousands, tens of thousands, of people killed. Entire towns were wiped off the map. Belinsk was right in the center of it all.

"We eventually used a weapon called the Apollo Lens to destroy the tower and end the Eclipse, but before we could use it, we ran into Blados and Chalis. They had turned Sveta's brother into some kind of shadow beast. We fought without realizing who it was that we were fighting. We won, but in the end, Volechek couldn't be saved. He came to his senses in time to sacrifice himself and activate the Lens."

Felix had not said a word for the duration of the story. His expression was entirely neutral. "There... there must have been some mistake," he said. "Manipulation was Chalis's forte, to be sure, but... why? I don't know why they... They must not have known. There had to be some miscommunication in there. That's the only option."

Sveta leapt to her feet. "Why?" she shouted, eyes ablaze. She immediately began to cough and she collapsed again; she had overexerted herself. But when she recovered, she looked at Felix with tears in her eyes. "They forced the activation of the Luna Tower, knowing exactly what it was meant to do. They explicitly told us that their orders came from the High Empyror himself. They... they turned my brother into a monster, Felix! And then they made me murder him! I will not sit by and let you praise that demon as if he is anything but an irreprehensible villain!"

Felix shook his head. "I simply don't believe he would do that. I know him well. He has a mean streak, and he's certainly ambitious, but he wouldn't go that far. You must not know the whole story."

"_No!_" Sveta cried, tears streaming down her face. "You... you come in here, tell me that my brother died because of a _mistake,_ and then have the nerve to tell me that the Empyror, the man who is singlehandedly responsible for everything wrong in my life at this moment, is simply misunderstood?"

She turned her head to the ground. "You claim that you're going to the lighthouse to save Mia. You claim that the world needs her in case the Empyror makes a move against it. But then you turn a deaf ear when we tell you that he is a genocidal maniac, and tell us we must be exaggerating. You are selfish, Felix. You are saving Mia because you feel bad for hurting her in the first place. And if you will not side with us against the Tuaparang Empire, you are just as bad as they are."

There was a long silence.

Finally, Felix spoke. "Break's over. We need to reach the lighthouse before it's too late."

Sveta shook her head. "No. I am not going. Rief, can you show me the way to Bilibin? I understand Kalay can be found beyond that country. I need to speak with Matthew."

Felix took a step toward her. "Sveta, you're still in my custody, and I still have a mission to complete. You're staying with me and there's nothing you can do about it."

Rief stepped in front of Sveta to protect her, but she put her hand on his arm. "I... I can do this, Rief. Thank you." She brought herself to her feet shakily, and took on her fighting stance to the best of her ability.

Felix looked grim for a moment, and then he put Mia on the ground next to him. "You can't beat me. You know what my sword will do to you if you try."

Sveta bared her teeth. "I am dead either way, Felix. If you take me to your beloved Empyror, he will kill me just to watch me die. Better here among friends than there in a lab!"

Felix said nothing, but after a few seconds drew his sword and held before him with both hands. "I wish it had never come to this..."

"Stop!" Rief shouted.

Sveta and Felix looked at him.

"Felix!" Rief sputtered. "What would your sister think of the way you're acting? What about your parents?"

Felix raised an eyebrow. "They don't need to know. You don't need to tell them."

Rief was silent for a moment.

Then he smiled.

"Well, I know of one person who will miss Sveta very much. Matthew is Jenna's son, Felix. Didn't you know?"

Felix's eyes widened, his grip faltering. "But... you said Matthew was Isaac's son. How... what?"

Rief smirked. "Yes, Felix. That is how those things usually go. Very perceptive."

Sveta looked at Rief, eyes wide, ears drooping. "You mean I was kidnapped by my _boyfriend's uncle?_"

Rief and Felix simultaneously turned their heads toward her.

"Oh, I, umm... I did not mean to say that... oh dear. That was... I am sorry, please continue."

Rief's surprised expression lasted just a moment longer before he shut his mouth and took on the same self-assured expression he had held just seconds before. "O-of course! Matthew and Sveta are an item. And if he doesn't hear from her, well, he'll know there's trouble! Matthew led us to stop the Grave Eclipse, I'm confident he'll be able to stop you. One way or another, he'll find you, and... and Jenna will know about it, too! What do you think about that?"

Felix grimaced, his sword shaking in his hands. He looked from Sveta to Rief and back again.

After several seconds, he gave a guttural growl. "Aaarrrgh!" He swung his sword into the ground once, twice, three times in anger. Then he raised it and pointed it at Rief. "Fine, take her where she needs to go. But Mia is coming with me. If you tell Jenna, I'll find out. And Sveta," he said, turning the blade toward her. "I'll come back for you. This isn't over. I have never once failed a mission, and I will not let this be the first time I return in disgrace. When we get to Tuaparang, the Empyror can tell you in person how sorry he is for your loss, right before he saves the rest of your species by testing the limits of your survivability. If you're lucky, they might even stop once they've determined how much you can take."

He sheathed his sword. "Have fun, you two." Then he picked up Mia, and walked with a quickened pace toward Mercury Lighthouse.

Sveta collapsed. "Thank you, Rief. I... I do not know what I would have done if you had not been here."

But Rief was just staring at her, his mouth and eyes as wider than she had ever seen them. "You're dating Matthew? When did this happen?"

Sveta shook her head. "Oh dear. Oh dear, oh dear."

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Canonically, the Tuaparang Empire is a nation of vast military and technological might. If you look closely, no one associated with them uses psynergy at any point; even Blados and Chalis use items like Delusion Perfume exclusively (yes, they claim to be "shadow adepts of the Umbra Clan" once but that makes no sense because they never use psynergy, so I ignored that). You can pick them up after a battle and use them later if you're lucky. My interpretation of this was that Tuaparang just doesn't have any adepts. That'd give them a reason to go nuts with technology, and if the Empyror's an adept, that explains how he took that position of power._

_I predict that people will complain about Felix acting out-of-character in this chapter. I know this. The way he is acting is completely intentional on my part. I won't say why, though it's possible to guess based on information revealed in earlier chapters._


	12. Sequence Breaking

**Golden Sun is a property of Nintendo and Camelot. As a result, they are free to take any part of this, or all of it, and use it for whatever purposes they wish without asking me. I own none of the characters in this story, even the ones I made up myself. All praise this story gets can be directed straight on to Nintendo and Camelot. Any hate the story gets can go straight to me, though, I'm the one bastardizing it.**

* * *

Matthew and his friends passed Carver's Camp as the sun was setting, and as they reached the southern border of Bilibin the last rays of light were fading from the sky. The wall had a fairly small guard detail, but torches were posted all along the wall and Matthew noticed that even though it had been weeks since the Eclipse ended, people still seemed to stay within the light without even noticing it. The doorway was especially well-lit, and the four could see the two guards standing in front of the large closed gate long before they were seen in return.

As they approached, one of the guards took a step forward. "This entrance is closed. No entry to any unauthorized persons," he announced

Matthew sighed. Karis raised a hand in a plaintive gesture and asked, "Alright, when does it open in the morning?"

The second guard shook his head. "I think you misunderstood, missy. Bilibin is off-limits. No one gets in or out until further notice."

Tyrell scowled. "This doesn't have anything to do with the war, does it? We aren't spies! We just want to see if we can stop it."

Karis glared at Tyrell and elbowed him hard in the ribs. He yelped and rubbed his side.

The guards both laughed. "Yeah, whatever. Beat it, kids," one of them said. Then they returned to their posts next to the doorway.

Kraden remained where he was. "Excuse me, but I believe I count as an authorized person. My name is Kraden, and I'm a scholar. I taught McCoy the Second when he was just an infant. They contacted me to request my opinion on certain private matters. You should let me through."

The guards looked at each other. One of them took a step forward for a closer look. "Well... we haven't gotten any word from HQ about this," he said. "It seems like something they would have mentioned to us."

Kraden laughed. "I only received word very recently. It seemed urgent. Wouldn't you rather let one man through than be known as the ones who turned back Kraden the Scholar?"

Before he even finished his sentence the gate began to open. Matthew, Tyrell and Karis smiled.

"Great job, Kraden!" Karis said.

But as the three began to walk toward the gate, the second guard put out a hand. "Just the old man. He has a reason to come through. You don't."

Kraden frowned. "These children are my students as well. They also serve as a fine escort, and you know as well as I that these are dangerous times."

But the guard shook his head. "If you need an escort, we can provide one. But there's no chance we're letting three armed young adults through. One old guy's enough."

"Old guy? Pfah!" Kraden sighed. "Well, alright. I was going to be meeting three other friends in Bilibin City anyway." He turned to the 3 young warriors. "I'm sorry, but you'll have to run along home. I have to meet these people urgently - I'm sure you'll understand," he said with a wink.

Tyrell laughed and folded his arms. "Gotcha! We'll see you sometime later," he said.

Kraden smiled. "Indeed. Good luck!" And with that, he turned and walked through the gate. It closed firmly behind him.

Matthew, Tyrell and Karis began to walk back to Carver's Camp, but the moment they were out of sight of the guards, they stopped.

Karis spoke first. "So, he obviously wants to meet us in Bilibin. Any ideas how we get through the gate?"

"We could always try the easy way," Tyrell said. He snapped his fingers for emphasis, and a bright spark flared between his index finger and thumb for a moment.

Karis sighed. "Let's call that Plan B," she said. "We don't want to start an incident. Matthew? Any ideas?"

Matthew looked back at the gate. It was a large, wooden structure stretched between two steep cliffs. Torches were placed at regular intervals along the walls, and guards patrolled the top in a predictable pattern. The two men at the gate would have difficulty seeing far; they were standing in a brightly lit area, and so their eyes would not have adjusted to the darkness quite yet. On the far right side of the wall, right near the cliff face, Matthew could just see a hint of some easily-climbable vines; above that, on the wall itself, he saw several barrels large enough to hide behind, and he could just barely make out the glint of what could have been a treasure chest.

"Matthew?" Karis repeated. "Are you listening?"

Matthew sighed. "Come on," he said. "I've got a plan."

* * *

Two minutes later, they were at the gate again.

"Yeah, our parents are the Warriors of Vale," Matthew said. "You should probably let us through."

"Holy shit!" one of the guards said. "Open the gate!" shouted the other.

Matthew and his friends walked through unhindered. As they moved along the path to Bilibin, Matthew looked back at the wall and saw what could only be described as a complex maze of challenges and puzzles. He felt a twinge of regret, and he could only wonder what might have been...

* * *

"But I thought you knew we were together!" Sveta said weakly as she limped alongside Rief. "You seemed to be hinting in that direction. 'What would Jenna think if she heard you kidnapped her future daughter-in-law?' That is what I thought you were going to say."

Rief threw an arm in the air in protest. "I was bluffing! Well, mostly. I mean, I could totally see it happening. Actually, I shouldn't be surprised at all. Heck, the others probably think you were already together-"

"Rief."

"Sorry," Rief said as he scratched his head. "But... yeah. You were kind of all over him during the whole eclipse event. When we reached the Sanctum, you wouldn't even go in without him holding your hand. And keep in mind, you were the only one wearing Umbra Gear. I'll bet he was relieved when the gear threw out that shield of darkness!"

Sveta blushed. "I... I was scared. What if it had not worked? To protect me, I mean. It was thousands of years old."

"Then the quest would've been over, and Matthew would've suffered the same fate as you," Rief said with a shrug. "But it worked, so that doesn't matter. It was still adorable."

"Well... he apparently did not notice my, umm, attentions. And neither did I, frankly," Sveta replied. "I accidentally read his mind as he accidentally lost track of his thoughts, and then I accidentally mentioned that Belinsk was still in need of a king. This was just yesterday, by the way."

"A king? Whoa." Rief blinked. "That's, well, kinda fast, don't you think?"

Sveta blushed brighter and her ears twitched madly. "N-no! Not yet! That is not what I... no, I... umm..." She trailed off. "He... did not seem opposed to it. For when we eventually, umm, reach that point. If we do, I mean."

"Well, why were you keeping it a secret?" Rief asked.

"I-I do not know!" Sveta said. "He was going to... to come back, and..."

Rief laughed. "You were hoping for a _secret romantic affair,_ weren't you? Think of it, the son of two Warriors of Vale with the Queen of Morgal! How _scandalous,_" Rief said with a joking fluorish.

"N-no!" Sveta shouted. There was a pause. "...Maybe..." she admitted.

Rief laughed again. "Well, okay, I won't tell anyone if you don't want me to. It can be your little secret."

Sveta frowned. "It does not matter anymore. When I was kidnapped, I gave my closest aide one last order to find a replacement. It has only been a day, and I doubt he has succeeded yet, but I am not sure I want to return. Belinsk deserves better than I can give it."

"Well, whatever you decide," Rief said, "I'll keep your secret if you want me to. You two can decide on your own when you want people to know."

Sveta nodded. "I appreciate it, Rief. Thank you."

They walked in silence for a few minutes, broken only by the occasional coughing fit from Sveta.

Eventually, she spoke again. "Rief, I am sorry about your mother. It is all my fault. If I had not been there, she would not have seen Felix, and..."

Rief smiled. "I'm not worried. Mom knows Felix, and even though he's acting all weird, I know he'll do his best to help her. She's probably seen worse, anyway."

"I hope you are right," Sveta said. She allowed herself a bit of hope; Felix really had seemed like a good man, despite the irrationality he had shown when the subject of the High Empyror was broached.

"Of course I'm right!" Rief said happily. "You should probably save your breath. We'll reach Imil in a few minutes, and we can stop at my house. You still have to get changed. I, umm, didn't feel right getting you out of those clothes while you were unconscious. I'm especially glad I didn't now, Matthew would've-"

"Right. Thank you," Sveta interrupted.

They kept walking.

Without warning, Rief put out his arms and Sveta felt a rush of psynergy coming from him. At once, a creeping chill she hadn't even noticed vanished from her.

"The, umm, protection from cold was about to wear off. I used a protection from cold spell on you, by the way. It was the best thing I could think of doing aside from-"

"_Thank you,_ Rief," Sveta said harshly.

Rief pouted, but said nothing.

The rest of the walk to Imil took place in complete silence.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_I think Rief's gotten enough characterization by now. In my mind he's a likeable character with some annoying quirks and a snarky streak. I'd love to hear from anybody who still hates him, or who thinks I failed in that respect! I'm always willing to edit or elaborate if need be._

_I've given some thought to how I want to portray Tyrell and Karis, too. Tyrell always goes straight for the easy solution - he's hardworking, but in a lazy way, if you know what I mean. He's brighter than he was made out to be (and probably brighter than Garet will end up being) but he doesn't give himself many opportunities to show it. Karis is a bit of a control freak, but she's a fan of machines and loves to tinker. I was planning to introduce a Zol-based device she had been working on in this chapter, but I couldn't resist the joke at the end of Matthew's section. And anyway, there's plenty of room to expand now that I don't have to bother with Kraden._

_Keep up the reviews! I love feedback, positive or negative. It just makes my day, and I always do my best to keep criticisms in mind._


	13. Just a Visit

**okay guys nintendo and camelot own golden sun**

**not me**

**srsly**

* * *

From the rear of the group, Tyrell sighed loudly. "Matthew, it's late. Don't you think it's time to make camp?"

"Normally? Yes," Karis answered in Matthew's stead. "But we're approaching Vault, which has an inn. An inn, by the way, with some historical value to us!"

Karis was skipping happily, and so Tyrell slowed himself to put some distance between them. He and Matthew were each carrying torches and Karis wasn't exactly watching where she was going.

"Historical value? Like what?" Tyrell said.

Karis turned to him and smiled brightly. "Why, it's where our parents did their first good deed as a team together!"

Tyrell raised his eyebrows. "Vault is where Ivan met my dad and Isaac? Oh, right, I remember something about that. Catching thieves, right?"

Karis nodded. "Right. And we'll be able to stay under the very same roof where they found the missing valuables!"

Tyrell laughed. Karis sure got excited easily. But, he admitted, it WAS a neat story. Even though the Warriors of Vale were their parents, hearing the stories and actually visiting the locales were two very different things, and Vault had been a very important step along their parents' journey.

"Karis, are you sure you don't want to trade places? One of us can carry your bag. It looks heavy," Tyrell offered.

She shook her head. "This is my secret project I've been working on. Don't want anybody to see it until I'm finished with it, of course! And I couldn't resist bringing it along to tinker with whenever I have time."

From the front, Matthew spoke. "We may as well visit my grandparents while we're there, too. They moved here after Vale was destroyed. A lot of Vale refugees probably did, actually. I imagine the city's a good amount bigger than it was back then!"

But when he turned his head toward the front again, his pace slowed.

"What?" Karis said. "Do you see something?"

Matthew nodded. "There's Vault," he said.

Karis gasped. Tyrell gritted his teeth.

"...Or what's left of it," Matthew finished.

* * *

Vault wasn't entirely ruined. It appeared that most, if not all, of the buildings were still standing to some degree. But the doors were all smashed inward or hanging off their hinges, the windows were smashed, several walls were torn down... it was far from a perfect state of repair.

At the center of town stood a large structure that had most likely been the Inn at some point. Now, the roof was caved in and the entire front entryway was replaced with a gaping hole; inside, there were smashed pots, broken glass and splatters of blood.

"Was it the Eclipse that did this?" Karis asked no one in particular.

The group spread out. There were claw marks and gouges on the walls and the occasional scorch mark where a torch may have fallen. There were no bodies, and no smell of decay; either there had been no casualties or the victims had been eaten whole.

"Hey!" Tyrell called out. "I found something."

Just inside the inn was a notice nailed to the wall. It looked somewhat ragged, but it was still legible.

Karis began reading out loud." 'To any survivors, please evacuate to Bilibin City. Surround yourself with light during nighttime, and move only during the day. Avoid the shadows at all costs. Good luck.' It's unsigned," she said.

Tyrell sighed. "So, do we assume everyone made it out okay? I mean, there was obviously a struggle here, but..."

Matthew shook his head. "I'm not sure. The eclipse ended weeks ago. Why hasn't anyone returned yet?"

"Matthew," Karis said sadly, "Do you think your grandparents are okay?"

He said nothing. He simply put his torch on an empty wall hanging and folded his arms.

"Do you want to go by their house, maybe check for signs of trouble there?" Tyrell asked in a concerned tone.

Matthew shook his head. "I haven't been here in a long time. I don't actually know where they live. I was planning to ask around tomorrow."

There was a long silence.

Tyrell put his hands on his hips. "Well, either way, we can't do anything right now. We need to get some rest one way or another. I'll take the first watch, if you like."

"I think we should head outside of town," Matthew said as he looked up. "It's possible that maybe, just maybe, there are some people still around. We can check in the morning, but it's better to avoid spooking anyone for now."

Tyrell nodded. "Good plan. Let's go."

They solemnly walked out of the ruins of the inn.

* * *

A knock came at the door to the guest room Isaac was staying in. He rolled over in his bed and turned on the lamp on the bedside table. "Come in," he called.

Ivan opened the door a crack. "Hey, I know you're trying to sleep, but a letter just came for you. It's from Kraden."

Isaac smiled. "I was trying, but I wasn't really succeeding. I'm all dressed if you want to come in. Thanks for telling me. Kraden, you say? Does it say anything about Matthew?"

Ivan shrugged as he opened the door fully and entered. "Never opened it."

He walked over and handed it to Isaac, who unsealed the envelope and moved closer to the lamp to read it.

As he read, his brow began to furrow.

Ivan pursed his lips. "Bad news?"

"Not so much bad as... unexpected," Isaac said. "They aren't coming with us. Apparently war just broke out between Morgal and Bilibin, and the kids are good friends with the queen of Morgal, so they're going to see what they can do to help."

"Define 'help'," Ivan said with a frown.

Isaac laughed. "It doesn't specify, but they're apparently on their way to Bilibin City. I think they're probably going to try to talk their way through it."

"You hope," Ivan corrected.

"I hope," Isaac said with a nod and a smile.

"Well," Ivan said, inclining his head, "what are we going to do? Any changes of plan?"

Isaac shook his head. "We're already packed and ready to go. The four of us will head to Gondowan, deal with Venus Lighthouse, and we'll see how it pans out from there. If we can make it in time, we could always go to Bilibin afterward to help the kids, too."

Ivan nodded. "Hopefully they can deal with it, but... do you think our connection with Lord McCoy will help at all?"

"I'm not sure," Isaac said with a shrug. "McCoy the 2nd is in power now, but who knows? Maybe he remembers us from thirty years ago or something. Never hurts to try."

Ivan smiled. "I guess. Well, sorry again for waking you, and sorry to hear the kids won't be coming. I was looking forward to seeing Karis again, but... well, she's growing up. She's more than capable of living on her own. And geez, you should see some of the things she's been working on."

"She has your inventive talents, I see?" Isaac asked.

Ivan nodded. "She brought an odd material back from Passaj. She calls it 'zol', and I wish we had known about it back when I was building the first soarwing. This stuff levitates in a strong wind. No idea how it works, but she's doing something very neat with it. I'm kind of hoping she'll be done by the time we meet up again, I'm dying to see if her concept holds up."

"Why, so you can cheat a little with the next soarwing prototype you build?" Isaac said with a laugh.

Ivan smiled and put his arms out to his sides. "You got me. The next soarwing will literally be a block of zol that you blow on _as hard as you can_."

He began to walk back to the door. "That girl of mine... geez, you'd hardly know she was my daughter. Honestly, I spent all that time working on the Soarwing with no luck until she started peeking over my shoulder. Karis is a genius with machines. I mean, I dabble in it, but with her it just seems to click, you know?" Ivan threw his hands out to the side. "Her mother never seemed to get those kinds of things, either. I have no idea where it comes from."

"Well, you're a smart guy, Ivan," Isaac said. "Karis is smart, too. Maybe it's just that she grew up around all those little projects you started? Kids tend to be more comfortable around stuff they started at a young age. That's why I started Matthew on simple sword maneouvres early."

Ivan nodded. "She finished most of THOSE little projects, too. I mean, both the invention-type-things and the combat training her mother started her on. That's why Karis knows which end of a sword to hold," he joked. "It was a sight to see, the two of them sparring. Karis is the spitting image of her mother, and while she's not quite as talented or agile as my wife, champion fencer that she is, Karis could certainly hold her own."

Isaac nodded. "I wouldn't be surprised if she could do better than that now," he said. "All of our kids could. They're probably catching up to us."

"...Really?" Ivan said, skeptical.

Isaac shook his head. "Well, not quite. But hey, we should still use this trip as a chance to get our skills back up to par! That way, when everything gets back to normal, we can still prove that we're better than our children."

Ivan rolled his eyes knowingly. "If you say so. I think I'm going to head to bed, and so should you. We need to be well-rested for tomorrow."

"I suppose," Isaac said. "Well, goodnight then. Thanks for the letter."

The door closed and Isaac shut the lamp off. Matthew's unexpected excursion worried him somewhat, but Isaac trusted his son. Ivan was right - their kids were growing up. They could handle themselves.

That didn't change the fact that Isaac sometimes missed the good old days when Matthew needed his parents - both of them - as much as they needed him.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES_

_Short-ish chapter, but I'll probably do another one by the time I go to bed. Not a lot happening here but I'm either the next chapter or the one after that will have a significant plot event that I'm just dying to write._


	14. Rief is a Terrible Doctor

**Damn near all of this belongs to Nintendo and Camelot. Anything that doesn't belongs to me (original characters, original concepts, original interpretations of existing personalities) but I won't lay claim to any of it. Nintendo/Camelot can take and use any part of it they like, and my fellow fanwriters can also steal stuff as freely as they like as long as they don't just copy the entire story. **

**In summary, Drops of Jupiter is as open-source as fiction can get.**

* * *

The night before, Rief had brought Sveta to his house. She was sneezing, coughing, shivering, and generally miserable; he guided her to his sister's wardrobe and, after a few token psynergy-based immune boosters, sent her off to bed. His dad was out on an extended fishing trip, his sister was with Piers, and his mother... hopefully she would be at the top of Mercury Lighthouse by now. They had been the only ones in the house, but Rief was confident enough that Sveta was in good shape to let her sleep unattended.

Now it was morning, and when he knocked at her door, there was no answer.

"Sveta?" He said. He paused, and knocked more loudly.

He pounded at the door, and in a panicked tone, shouted "SVETA? Are you there? Are you alive, oh please tell me you're okay, I'm opening the door, please don't be dead..."

When he opened the door, she was still lying in bed unconscious. Her head was sticking out of the covers and the clothes she had worn the day before were scattered on the floor. Rief ran over and put two fingers over her carotid artery until he felt a reassuring thump; he put his hand near her nose and mouth until he felt the exhale of air; he shook her lightly until he remembered that his Mercury talents could just let him see if there was anything outright "wrong" with her.

Opening his mind to the flow of information, he happily noted that her hypothermia was no longer an issue. But... she had a fever. A very bad one. That indicated some kind of infection, Rief remembered vaguely... there it was. Her left lung was swollen and inflamed. She had pneumonia. A bad case, too. Not the worst he had ever heard of, but she needed attention.

He put his hands over her and poured out a steady stream of healing energy. A solid Ply wouldn't take care of this; bacterial infection worked differently from, say, a sharp knife wound, and while he couldn't clear it up in one fell swoop, he could do a lot to speed up the recovery process.

He heard a groan from her. Looking over, he saw her squeezing her eyelids for a moment. She was waking up. He let himself smile a little. If he hadn't been able to wake her up...

His mind raced. He'd be a failure of a doctor. His mother would never forgive him. Matthew would straight-out murder him. Rief let the stream of energy intensify.

Sveta's eyes snapped open and she sat straight upright. By reflex, Rief pulled his hands back, bracing himself. One of Sveta's arms held the bedsheet to her chest, and the other was at her mouth as she began yet another coughing fit. Her bare shoulders surged up and down with each sharp exhale.

After several seconds of this, she laid back down. She took several slow breaths. Then she groaned loudly.

"Hnnng... Rief? What are you doing here?" She asked.

Rief was stock-still. His arms were still up on their guard. He lowered them slightly and responded. "What do you mean? We're at my house. You're in Imil."

Sveta stared back blankly. "You... huh? When did we get here?" She spoke quietly and with some difficulty. "Can... can you get Matthew?"

Rief put a hand on his face. "Sveta, Matthew isn't here. You have a bad fever. I think you might be delusional."

Sveta shifted. "Fever? No, Tyrell has Fever... why would I use Mars djinn...?"

"No, a fever. You're sick." He mimed putting a hand on his forehead. "Warm. Hard to think properly."

"Y'right..." Sveta said groggily. "...Should get out of bed..."

"Nononono!" Rief said quickly. "Umm, wait for a bit. I'll be back. I don't know how dressed you are. You, uh, don't seem dressed. Didn't. When you were, uh, coughing. I didn't see anything, I swear."

Sveta groaned. "Rief, you are not making any sense. Ask that... that fish, to... dishes... paper... cloud." She began to pull herself out of bed.

"BACKINABIT, CLOTHESINTHEDRAWERS." Rief hurried out of the room as fast as his little legs would carry him, and then he closed the door without turning around.

As he stood there panting, he found himself dreading the rest of the day's events.

"Should've been a fisherman..." he said to himself.

* * *

Some time later, Rief heard Sveta calling from inside the room. "I am sorry for earlier, Rief! I am dressed and somewhat lucid."

Opening the door, he saw Sveta wearing clothes typical of the Mercury Clan. They fit poorly; Sveta was taller and slimmer than Nowell, which resulted in a lot of odd bunching, but they would be warmer than her royal outfit. She was wearing boots too, which Rief found odd; he had never actually seen her wear any kind of footwear before.

"I used a Boon on myself again," Sveta said. "I realized that if we are heading into Bilibin, I need to disguise myself somewhat. A beastwoman would not go unnoticed. This coat comes with a hood, and while these boots will be uncomfortable, I feel it would be less conspicuous than going barefoot. What do you think?"

Rief laughed. "I'm just sort of glad you're clothed. How's your fever? Are you breathing alright?"

Sveta nodded. "As long as I can remember to keep my head clear, I shall be fine."

"Right," Rief said. "Try not to push yourself too hard either. I'd rather you weren't traveling at all, but we need to get you to Kalay. We've got a quick trip through the mountains ahead, and then we'll try to get through Bilibin as fast as possible. Tell me when you need to stop or if your fever gets worse, try to keep up the Boons, and don't be afraid to ask for help. That's what I'm here for."

"Thank you, Rief," Sveta said with a smile. "I am actually fine... I suppose the djinn are providing some assistance."

"Honestly, if you didn't have the djinn, I'm not sure you would have made it this far," said Rief. "I don't mean to scare you, but you fell out of an airship into arctic waters, spent the better part of a day in wet clothes in the tundra, walked to and from Mercury Lighthouse barefoot, and now all you have is a little fever and a bad case of pneumonia that I think I can clear up in a few days. No normal person could handle all of that alone."

Sveta bent to pick up her royal outfit and stuffed it into her pack. "Well, I am grateful for their help in that case. Are you ready to leave? I would like to go as soon as possible."

With a nod, Rief said, "I'm ready when you are. Are you sure you don't want a few days of bedrest? Pneumonia is no laughing matter."

"I feel that time is of the essence," Sveta responded. "Belinsk still believes me to be kidnapped, but... well... as painful as it is to say it, I do not think they need me desperately. Even so, once my affairs are in order I would rather return to my kingdom. Hopefully it will not be too late."

"Your affairs, huh?" Rief said with a smirk. "Gotcha. We'll be in Kalay before you know it. Hopefully not literally. I do expect you to keep your head clear, I don't want to end up wrestling with your delusions again. Understood?"

Sveta nodded and smiled. "Understood. Lead on."

* * *

By the time the sun rose, Matthew was already awake and dressed. He had taken the last watch of the night, but even if he hadn't, he probably would have woken up early. His mind was still racing from the night before, and from the night before that, and all things considered he had found it very difficult to sleep.

First of all, there was Sveta. While he hadn't admitted it to his friends, she was obviously the reason he had jumped to Morgal's defense. She must be going crazy right now, he thought; she would be worried about her kingdom and its future already, but with a war to add to the stress... Matthew wished he had just stayed behind, said "screw you" to the psynergy vortexes, and tried to work out something with her while they were still in the same country.

Second, the state of Vault was not promising. Even if everyone HAD evacuated safely, it still did not bode well for the rest of the country if this area had been hit so hard. They planned to go into town to search for survivors, but he didn't expect any success. What could have possessed Lord McCoy to declare war on Morgal after an event like this? How many soldiers could he possibly have had left?

Matthew hoped that his grandparents were okay. He had never been that close with them... but they were family, after all. And his mother would be devastated if anything happened to them. More stress was one thing his parents' relationship didn't need, he thought sadly.

He stood and prepared to go wake his friends. One thing at a time, of course. They would do a quick run through Vault, and then they would move onward to Bilibin City, just a little bit to the north. There they would meet up with Kraden and, if all went well, they would obtain an audience with McCoy and find some way to end this conflict before it really started.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Yeah, sorry, I said this'd go up on Friday, and I was planning to write it, but this happened:_

_JGD: "I don't understand Stormshipping, but hey I heard of this fic called A Different Kind of Storm, maybe I should check it out._

_[3 hrs later]_

_JGD: "Oh. OH. That's why Stormshipping is so popular. Understood."_

_And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how you do proper romantic fanfic. I'm taking notes. Hopefully this story will become less crappy as a result._

_(It didn't go up Saturday night because I had the biggest headache ever and I couldn't muster the willpower to write another stupid in-between chapter.)_

_Anyway, there hopefully won't be any chapters worse than this one in the future. My head is still really, really fuzzy, and I couldn't figure out a way to perform this sort of transitional duty without actually having a chapter devoted to it. I pretty much hate how boring it is but it's better than just starting a chapter with "Matthew and friends went straight to Bilibin, also Sveta has pneumonia now!"_

_Special thanks to Wikipedia for being my source of medical information. I don't know how much of it is accurate, but it's been great for picking and choosing various illnesses for Sveta to fall victim to and for Rief to react poorly to._


	15. Fever Pitch

**golden sun - nintendo and camelot and not me**

**drops of jupiter - mostly nintendo and camelot - a little to me but it's open-source**

**that's all you need to know**

* * *

"Wow, I had forgotten how much fun it was to go adventuring!"

Jenna was happily walking at the front of the group. They had entered Gondowan by this point and had encountered several groups of hostile animals. Most of them were now scattered ash.

Ivan smiled serenely. "Jenna, you never did have to stay home. Isaac, Garet and I have gone out at several points for our own 'errands', and we know enough people in town that we could have simply gotten the kids babysitters."

"I know," said Jenna, "but it had been so long since the Lighthouse adventure that I had forgotten what I was missing! Isaac, hon, I know I've still got a few more childraising years left in me, but I'm never going back. Not ever."

Isaac laughed. "Don't worry, I think I've had enough too. One is enough. Oh, it's odd, though, thinking about our kids getting older... Matthew's almost an adult now. Our kids are trying to stop a war! And they'll probably succeed! What other parents can reasonably say that, huh?"

"Ours could, Isaac... one moment." Jenna paused as she noticed a wolf. It may or may not have been rabid, but Jenna told herself that it was not worth taking any risks over. She raised a hand and a brilliant, terrifying lance of heat came forth. The wolf vanished. "Right, sorry. Anyway, we were their age when we embarked on our own adventure. We came out of it okay. It must just run in the family or something!"

Ivan shrugged happily. "Here's a sobering thought - the effects of the Golden Sun might mean that before long, our kids look older than us. None of us look older than thirty. Heck, Isaac, give it a few years and you might be able to pass as Matthew's brother!"

"Yeah," Isaac said with a laugh. Then he sighed. "Yeah. You're right. Our kids are getting older. Jenna, we got married when we were twenty-one, right? Geez, our kids are on their way there. What do you think of THAT?"

"Funny you should say that, Isaac!" Garet said with a smile. "Tyrell tells me Matthew was _very_ close with a friend of theirs by the time they finished their little trip."

Jenna and Isaac looked at each other with mischievous expressions. "Oooh, he never mentioned THAT!" Jenna said evilly. "So, who's the lucky lady, and when do I get to take on the scary mother-in-law role?"

Garet put a hand on his chin. "I don't really remember. Tyrell didn't actually say if they were officially together, but he was pretty certain they were headed that way. Her name was... Stella? Something like that. Sveta, that's it! Sveta."

Isaac and Jenna stopped.

"Sveta," Isaac said slowly, "former princess and now queen of Morgal?"

Garet thought for a moment. "Is that who that was? I dunno, maybe. Your boy's done well for himself, if that's the case."

But Isaac ignored him and looked back at his wife. "Jenna, is our son trying to stop a war to _impress his girlfriend?_"

Jenna folded her arms angrily. "Isaac, you never stopped a war for ME. What, does Matthew need to give you a few pointers on how to make a lady happy?"

Ivan raised his hands in protest. "Hold on, Tyrell and Karis are with him. I'm sure everything will be fine."

"My son is trying to stop a war so he can get together with the queen of the beastman realm! Does no one see a problem with this?" Isaac shouted.

There was a loud roar as a bear-looking monster charged out of a nearby hiding place. All at once, the ground opened up and a torrent of pure lifeforce rammed into it, vaporizing it where it stood.

"I'll GET TO YOU in a MINUTE!" Isaac cried as his Gaia spell ended. "Cripes, stupid monsters interrupt EVERYTHING!"

There was a pause before Garet opened his mouth to speak. "Isaac, you just said you weren't worried about him getting involved in that. What's changed."

"It's a stupid reason!" Isaac responded.

Ivan leaned heavily on his staff. "Are you sure you aren't just worried that your little boy might be leaving the nest before you're ready?"

Isaac's eyes widened. "What the-? Ivan, stop reading my mind!"

Jenna put her hand on her husband's shoulder. "He didn't have to. You're attached to him, Isaac. We get that. But you need to learn to let go." She looked away. "I did."

Isaac's expression fell. "You're... you're right, of course. And I'm sorry. We can deal with this when we get back. But Garet, did Tyrell say whether Matthew and Sveta were open about their relationship?"

Garet shook his head. "I got the feeling that it was more of a mutual crush than anything else. Who knows? Maybe nothing will come of it. We can't do anything about it from here, anyway. We have our own job to do. "

Isaac nodded slightly. "Of course. I'll... try to think about other things, I guess."

Jenna pinched his cheek. "Lighten up! Have a bit of fun. We're basically on vacation. Leave your worries behind, and... one second, I got this."

Jenna turned to look at the swarm of gigantic insects that was barreling toward them. The look of maniacal glee on her face alone would have brought any sentient being to its knees.

She raised her staff and felt her blood boil as she gathered her powers...

* * *

Imil was technically part of the nation of Bilibin, and while no one tried very hard to enforce any sort of government on the northern folk, the trade route between Imil and the capital was reasonably well-traveled. A cave that had once been a trap-filled dungeon had been converted by work crews into a safe passageway that people could go through, unarmed if necessary, and expect to reach their destination unimpeded.

For this reason, Rief and Sveta made it to the city by early afternoon despite several stops to rest and heal. Sveta was showing great discomfort at having to wear boots; she had slipped on the ice several times on the way out of Imil, having no tactile feedback to help her balance, and that hadn't done anything good for her coughing fits. Nevertheless, her obvious illness helped to dissuade any questions they may have received regarding her odd gait. She looked sickly and weak - partly because she was - and no one wanted to get close enough to question her.

"I'm sorry we had to do this, Sveta," Rief said when they entered Bilibin City, "but we're low on supplies and this is the first place we've reached where we can replenish them. Just keep your hood on, nobody will notice anything unless they look too closely."

Sveta coughed several times. "I hope you are right. This is... I do not like being in this city. It... ugh." She brought a hand to her head and let a magical breeze clear her mind. "I can barely hear myself think. So many people... and I need not remind you that diplomatic relations between our nations are somewhat poor."

Rief shook his head. "Let's just hit the marketplace and be on our way. Quick in, quick out. No need to even stop."

They made their way toward the marketplace, weaving their way through crowds and trying hard not to look very out-of-place. It was difficult, what with both of them dressed in Mercury Clan outfits, but they reached the food stalls without incident.

Until Sveta begn to lose focus.

"Rief... I smell..." She sniffed the air a few times. "I think..."

Rief waved a hand in the air, dismissing her. "Sorry, I need to handle this. Uh, sir! Can I get two of these, and..."

"I smell... oh..." Sveta sniffed more.

The stall manager looked at her oddly. "Hey, something up with your friend there?

"What, her? N-no! She's just... my cousin. She hasn't been this far south before. Isn't that right?" Rief asked with a sharp nudge.

Sveta began coughing again. "Rief, do not... ow... It's hard to... so warm..."

"Sveta, just wait a minute-"

The stall manager looked back at Rief. "Did you say Sveta? Isn't that the name of the Princess of Morgal?"

Rief shook his head frantically. "Nonono! I didn't say Sveta, I said... uh..."

But Sveta was oblivious. It was a warm day. She wasn't used to wearing winter clothes in this kind of weather. And on top of that, she had a high fever.

"I just... I smell... I need air..."

And before Rief could stop her, she had removed her hood.

* * *

"So where did we say we'd meet Kraden?" Tyrell asked.

Karis rolled her eyes. "Bilibin City. As if that's any help at all, really."

Matthew put a hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun. "It can't be too hard. It's a big city, but Kraden will probably be at an inn or a cafe or something, right?"

Tyrell nodded enthusiastically. "Right! We just gotta check 'em all! Won't take too long if we split up."

Karis gave him an incredulous look. "But if we split up, how will we give the signal that we've found him without attracting attention?"

Tyrell pouted. "Oh yeah. That. Well, fine, we can stick together, I guess. "

Matthew nodded. "Alright, let's try to find the nearest inn. We can rent rooms, and then we'll begin our search once we're all unpacked. We find Kraden, we look for information on refugees from Vault, and then we head to McCoy's palace. Understood?"

Tyrell and Karis nodded. "Alright," Matthew continued. "So... who wants to ask for directions?"

* * *

Almost at once, the noise in the crowd receded to nothing. All eyes were on Sveta. Especially Rief's.

"I... uh... I can explain, everyone! Just gimme a second!" he shouted.

But the crowd ignored him.

"She's one of them!"

"A werewolf or somethin'!"

"She's gonna kill our livestock and eat our children!"

Sveta was oblivious. "Rief, I... do you not smell it?"

Rief cringed. "Sveta, please don't go all crazy on me now. Sveta? OhcomeonSERIOUSLY!"

As he spoke, Sveta fell onto all fours. She gave a loud growl which attracted even more attention. And as she sat there on her knees, her fur began to grow and increase in density. Her muzzle extended and her eyes shifted in her skull. Her arms and legs became more muscular and her already-sharp claws took on a razor edge.

The crowd watched in horror as Sveta entered her beastform before their very eyes.

She sniffed the air and paced a little. Where she walked, everyone backed away.

Rief ran next to her and put up his hands. "It's okay! She's... she's harmless! Kinda! She, uh, won't hurt you! Don't do anything sudden!"

He looked at Sveta. "Please don't do anything sudden."

She took off at a run, leaping clear over the crowd and out of sight.

Rief's heart sank. "Oh no. This... this can't be good."

With Sveta out of the picture, the enraged and terrified crowd turned its sights on Rief.

"He brought a werewolf inna town!"

"I bet he's one of them too!"

"He DOES look kinda squirrelly!"

"He's a spy! GET 'IM!"

Rief wanted to disappear. Instead, he did the next best thing.

"Everyone, stay back! I'm a powerful adept and I am prepared to fight in self-defense if necessary!"

Well, he THOUGHT it was the next best thing.

But it only made the crowd angrier.

Rief no longer considered his mother's ice walls to be overkill.

* * *

Matthew and his friends walked out of the first inn they had bumped into - the Regal Reststop, it was called - after purchasing several very nice rooms. It was expensive, but adventuring had proven to be a very lucrative career. Freshly unloaded, the crew was ready to begin their search.

They were completely unprepared.

They were about three steps away from the entrance of the Reststop when they heard screams from around a corner.

Matthew quickly looked around to see what the commotion was about. "What's going on? Should we check i- OOOFFF!"

Before he could finish, several hundred pounds of fur and muscle rammed into him, slamming him to the ground.

Tyrell drew his sword. Karis took on a ready position, prepared to zap the target with psynergy the moment an opportunity arose.

But when Matthew looked up at his assailant, he cried out. "Stop! Stop! It's..."

The monster faded all at once. A harsh wind blew, and when it had passed, all that remained was Sveta, sitting on top of him.

"Matthew! I knew it! I could smell you from... oh..." Sveta coughed and her arms trembled. "Oh dear..."

Her eyes rolled into her head and she collapsed on top of him.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Best to end on a cliffhanger. Also, it's midnight and I have work in the morning._


	16. Sveta's Lament

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot**

**If you don't know this already I have to wonder why you started midway through the story**

**Seriously, get in line**

* * *

Sveta woke.

She struggled for breath as she looked around the room. Everything seemed hazy and surreal. She coughed several times; her lungs felt clouded, like she was breathing water. But she was in a well-lit room - specifically, the bed of a well-lit room.

She looked to her left, and noticed a figure seated on a chair. Matthew.

"Oh," she said, "I am dreaming again."

Matthew smiled and shook his head. "You're awake. You're in Bilibin City, and I can't help but wonder how you got here. Are you alright?"

Sveta smiled. "You always say I am awake, but then I actually wake up and Rief gets upset. I am difficult to control when I am delusional." She rolled over and turned away from him.

"Huh? Rief? What about him? Is he around?" Matthew asked. Sveta could not see his expression.

"Of course. He is probably treating my pneumonia right now," she answered. She coughed. It certainly had gotten worse. She felt incredibly weak and incredibly warm. "Rief? I think I am dreaming again. If you can hear me, can you cool me down? I would greatly appreciate it." There was no response.

She felt weight next to her on the bed. "Pneumonia? Sveta, are you sick?" Matthew asked.

Sveta nodded as she began to close her eyes. "Mmm... not a very... smart hallucination..." She tried to take a breath, but it didn't come easily. "...Will feel better... after some rest..."

"Sveta? Sveta, stay with me!" She felt a rush of psynergy and all at once felt much more... grounded. The air was still hazy and she could barely focus, but it was almost like she was more awake.

How silly that she would feel that way. Of course she was still dreaming.

She took a slow breath. "...A very... stubborn dream. Oh well. May as well... enjoy while it lasts." She struggled to raise a hand and batted the air to her left. She felt contact and let her hand rest where it fell. "...Missed you..." she said. She didn't bother opening her eyes.

She felt the weight on the bed shift. "Sveta... keep talking, okay? I need to know what happened." Dream-Matthew sure didn't know very much considering that he was a dream. "Where's Rief? Why aren't you in Belinsk?"

Sveta coughed. She took another slow breath. "Went to... Imil. Seemed like a good idea... Rief helped..." The details were hazy. Why couldn't she think? She vaguely remembered something she would usually do when her mind felt like this, but... the thought just wouldn't complete. Oh well, it couldn't be too important.

She turned toward him and opened her eyes. He looked exactly as she remembered. He was sitting over her, looking down at her, and her hand had apparently landed on his shoulder. She shifted it over, just slightly, so it would rest on his neck. She was careful to keep her sharp nails away from him, but she wanted the comfort of being with someone close to her, even if she didn't think he was actually there.

"I got sick... and he took me to visit you... and I forget the rest," Sveta continued. " 'S okay... that we haven't made it. Rief is nice..." She took another shaky breath. "He is... trying his best."

She paused. She tried to feel for her djinn, but... there was no response. They were resting, recovering for some reason. What had happened?

A fragment of clarity entered her mind. "I... ran away? Why would...? I do not know. Rief must... not be around..."

Tears entered her eyes. "I am all alone..."

Dream-Matthew put his hand around hers, squeezing it lightly. "No, Sveta, you're here. I'm with you. Tyrell and Karis are just outside, they're... they're looking for a doctor. I should tell them that Rief's around, they'll be able to find him, and then you'll be safe! Just... just hold on..."

Sveta smiled and closed her eyes again. "Thass... nice..." She took one more slow breath. "Matthew... when I wake up, can... can you be there?"

Matthew sniffled. "I'll be there. I promise."

Sveta gave a weak laugh, which prompted another coughing fit. "Hope you... end up right..."

She rolled over, turning away from him. "Was... a fun dream... while it lasted. Going to rest now. Thank you."

She felt the weight lift off of the bed. "You're welcome, Sveta. Keep breathing, okay?"

She nodded. "...Love you. Be safe."

There was a pause. "Sveta, I..."

She nodded. "Mmm?"

"I... I love you too. I'll be there when you wake up. Sleep well."

She felt another rush of psynergy, and she felt more... solid. Less airy. She hadn't noticed that the world had begun to fade, but it snapped back into place.

She giggled. "Bye..." she said happily, as she drifted off to sleep again.

* * *

Matthew stood up and rubbed his eyes. He reached out with his mind and did one last check - Sveta's life force was still just barely there, but it would hold for a while. He had to hurry.

He dashed out of the room and took every other step on the way downstairs. He ran outside and looked in every direction. No sign of Tyrell or Karis. He went to the nearest person on the street and ran up in a frenzy.

" 'Scuse me! Sir! Have you seen, uh, a boy about my height, kind of muscley, spikey red hair? Or, or a shorter green-haired girl, probably asks a lot of questions?"

The man was taken aback somewhat by Matthew's approach, but he stopped to think for a moment. "Hmm... talkative green-haired girl? I ran into her a little down that way." He indicated that Matthew should go north on a nearby crossroads.

Matthew smiled at him and gave a very visible nod and a quick bow. And he took off at a run.

Before long, he saw Karis. He shouted her name, but she didn't hear. She walked into a weapon store, apparently following a pedestrian she was talking to. He charged in after her.

"Sir, can you tell me if there's a doctor around?" he heard her ask as he approached.

"Doctor? I dunno, never been sick. Probably somewhere-"

"KARIS!" Matthew interrupted. "This way. Hurry!"

Karis glared at him. "That was awfully-"

"No time!" Matthew grabbed her hand. He pulled her out of the store.

When they were clear, he grabbed both of her shoulders. "Sveta's dying. Rief's in town. I need you to find him. I'm going to look for Tyrell. If you see him on the way-"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down!" Karis replied. "Rief's around? That explains Sveta's outfit, but why isn't she with him?"

"No clue," Matthew said sharply. "She isn't exactly lucid. But she's barely holding on. She has pneumonia, and it's killing her. Just go find Rief!"

Karis shook her head. "Faster idea. Let's go back to the inn."

Matthew glared at her, uncomprehending.

"My machine, you twit!" Karis growled in return. "I finished it last night. It'll help me find Rief faster."

Matthew sighed. "Sorry. Kind of on edge. Alright, let's go!"

When they reached Karis's room, she went right to her pack. She took out what appeared to be a pair of portable wings. "They're made from zol. I based the whole thing on the Soarwing design. If it works well, I'll be able to get a bird's-eye view of the city, and Rief will be more likely to spot me. He's probably looking for Sveta too, if she's in as much trouble as you say."

Matthew smiled. "Karis, that's brilliant! Thank you. Thank you so much."

She smiled back. They left her room and she locked it behind them. Quickly slipping the wings on, she stood at attention and saluted like a soldier. "Back in a flash!" Then she turned and ran down the stairs and out of the inn.

As he watched her go, Matthew finally felt his adrenaline drain away. It left him feeling a little dizzy. No use going after Tyrell anymore... he was probably far away, and Sveta needed attention. He went back into his room - where they had brought her after she collapsed, of course - and sat in the chair he had placed next to the bed. She was still sleeping somewhat soundly, but her breathing was ragged. He gave her another Potent Cure, and then he let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

He felt tears welling up again as he watched her. One of her ears twitched lightly. He wanted to lie next to her and... no. He had to stay alert.

He blinked hard, rubbed his eyes, and then put his hands on his knees and waited for Karis to return.

* * *

A rush of water.

Almost like a river, just going through the air. Going through everything. Through her.

She was filled with its life, its serenity. She was overflowing. She hadn't felt anything like it since...

...Since...

Mia opened her eyes.

Before her was a massive, swirling blue orb hanging in the sky.

"Huh? What's going on? Rief, are you...?" She tried to sit up. "Uugh, so stiff! I feel like I haven't moved in days..."

"It's only been about one day, actually," said a voice nearby.

She turned her head to look. Felix.

He was standing at the very edge of the roof of Mercury Lighthouse, near one of the elevators, and as far away from the beacon as he could get.

It all began to come back to her.

"Felix, why am I here? Where's Rief? What did..." Mia's voice trailed off. She was speechless. She couldn't remember a thing.

Felix shook his head. "Later. First, you should probably look at this." He pointed a finger behind her.

She turned to look back. For the first time, she noticed a psynergy vortex right behind the Mercury Beacon. But it was now much smaller than she remembered. Before, she could see it from Imil. Now... it looked like it was about to vanish.

"Felix, I don't understand-" she began, but before she could finish, the vortex began to react.

It shook violently. Short, black bolts of lightning fired out of it as it compressed to a single point. As it shrank, it shook harder, as if something was pressing against it from the inside. All at once, it exploded outward, leaving a cloud of darkness hanging around where the vortex had once been.

And when the darkness began to fade, Mia saw a Mercury djinn at the center of it all.

"Hiya!" it said. "My name's Niño! I'm new here! Wanna be friends?"

Mia was speechless. She nodded her head slightly.

The djinn jumped into the air once. "Cool! I'm so excited! We're gonna have SO MUCH FUN!"

It seemed to burst into waves of blue. It swirled around Mia, and a rain of psynergy poured down into her. It was a familiar feeling, and when it finished, she simply felt stronger. Another djinn to add to the nine she already carried.

She turned back toward Felix, her face a mask of shock. "How did...? What?"

He smiled. "Glad to see you approve. Can we go? I'm not sure it's safe for me to be up here."

She nodded quickly and got to her feet carefully. She stretched her arms out and hopped down the steps toward the elevator. Felix jumped on first and then held out a hand for her to follow. She took one last, fleeting look at the beautiful Beacon. It was recovering from the vortex already, still swirling peacefully as if nothing had ever happened.

She gave Felix a worried look and then hopped onto the platform.

And as they descended, he began to recount the previous day's events.

He left nothing out.

Mia had nothing to say.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Yeah, I was basically playing Midna's Lament in the background for this entire chapter. It just felt appropriate._

_I wasn't sure whether or not to include Mia's revival, but I figured that it would be better to explicitly state that she got better rather than leaving people to wonder whether Evil!Felix had decided to throw her off a building or something. Also, djinn are born from psynergy vortexes! Hurray. Yes, I know we've seen them vanishing without creating djinn in Dark Dawn. I'm getting to that. First we gotta deal with Sveta._

_I'm actually considering starting another GS series (one set in the future, about 500 years post-GSE, where the Warriors of Vale have faded into legend... but are still around saving the world secretly because they are immortal) and just omitting anything that might spoil the end of this one. I'd obviously keep updating both, but I do feel like I want to write something less fluffy and more exciting on some nights. I'd like to have the option._


	17. Interruptions

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Rief was walking through the streets of Bilibin, trying his hardest not to be noticed by anyone. Granted, the majority of the population was probably now sitting in the marketplace waiting for the exits to unfreeze, but he didn't want to take any chances.

As if he didn't have enough to think about.

As he hurried (while trying to look like he was walking at a leisurely pace), he looked frantically through every alleyway he passed and kept an ear open for any kind of commotion. Sveta had gone into beastmode, which would obviously have attracted a lot of attention, not to mention the EXTRA attention she'd attract the moment she fell out of it.

Oh gosh, she didn't have much time! After a transformation, her djinn would have to recover, and without her djinn... The pneumonia. She could already be dead.

If she was dead, Felix would find out. Felix had Rief's mother. Felix could kill Rief's mother with little to no effort.

If Mia was killed, that would be one less adept capable of defending Weyard if the Tuaparang went to war. Add that to Sveta... and Rief himself, when Matthew found out. And maybe Matthew himself. He was probably going to fling himself off of a building and OKAY THAT'S ENOUGH.

Rief halted his train of thought, slowed his breathing to the point where he would no longer hyperventilate, and folded his hands to hide their violent shaking. He had to get somewhere with a good vantage point. Once he got there, he could scan the town, looking for-

"Hey, you!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!" Rief screamed as a hand grabbed his shoulder. He spun and, eyes closed from fear, conjured a torrent of water from his palms, aiming to blind or subdue his assailant. He turned straight ahead again, and started running.

Then he tripped.

He covered his head with his hands. This was it! He had nowhere to run, no way to escape in time. The world was doomed, he was doomed, Sveta was doomed and that meant he was DOUBLE-doomed... He started to cry.

Behind him, sputtering and splashing, the man called out to him again. "Hey, wha - Rief? What are you doing here? How are you... Why'd you spray me?"

Rief looked up with alarm. Behind him, soaked from head to toe, was Tyrell.

"Tyrell, what are you doing here? Wait, is Matthew with you?"

They both jumped to their feet and grabbed each other by the arms at the same time. "SVETA'S IN TROUBLE!" they shouted simultaneously.

"Wait," said Rief, "You know? Hold on, she said she smelled something! Did she go after Matthew? Is that what happened?"

Tyrell nodded quickly. "She pounced on him, and then she floofed back to normal, and then she passed out, and then Matthew got all shouty, and SHE'S GONNA DIE! We have to get back to the... wait, are you crying?"

Rief spoke quickly as he shook his head violently. "NO, OF COURSE NOT. IT'S THE WATER I SPRAYED YOU WITH. THAT WOULD BE SILLY."

"Oh," said Tyrell with a shrug. "Okay. Right, the inn! We took her to Matt's room! He's looking after her now! Let's go!"

He picked up Rief by the waist and slung him over his shoulder, and then took off.

Several steps later, he stopped.

"Huh? What's wrong?" asked Rief from his unwilling perch.

He felt Tyrell's shoulders slump. "I... I have no idea where the inn is from where we're standing."

Rief's heart sank.

"We're doomed," he said sadly.

* * *

Once the vertigo wore off, Karis found that she quite enjoyed this new method of flight. Sure, she had overcompensated with the takeoff, but now that she had gone back below the cloud layer, she could see everything perfectly. It hadn't taken long to learn how to maintain altitude, either. She loved the feeling of the wind in her hair, the rush of acceleration as she dove and weaved just to see if she could.

And it hadn't taken long to spot a disturbance, either. There was a huge crowd clustered into a tight location. She looked down to see if she could spot Rief, but it didn't look like he was around.

A second later, she noticed the ice sheets covering every possible exit. Well, apparently he had just been nearby.

And then she saw a huge spray of mist just a few blocks away.

"Mission accomplished, Captain Karis!" she said to herself. The rush of wind made it impossible to for even HER to hear herself, but it was the principle of the thing.

She cut her altitude and in the back of her mind, she hoped that landing was as easy as the rest of the flight process.

* * *

"So... if we're doomed anyway, can you put me down, Tyrell?"

Tyrell shook his head. "Nah, I think we're good. I might remember where we're going, and I don't want to have to wait for you."

"Oh," Rief said dejectedly. "Well, you could retrace your ste-"

Before he could finish his suggestion, Rief was interrupted by a whirlwind that knocked the air out of his lungs. Both he and Tyrell were sent flying backward, as was the small crowd of pedestrians that neither had noticed crowding around to watch.

"Whew! Sorry about that, came in too fast." Karis adjusted her hair with one hand and brushed herself off when she was finished. When she looked up, a broad grin lit up her face. "Tyrell! You found Rief!"

Tyrell, still very moist despite the impromptu blowdrying, nodded without humor. His hair was sticking straight backward. Rief did not respond because he was upside-down and still quite dazed.

Karis walked over and helped Tyrell up, and then she righted Rief before extending him the same courtesy. "This is excellent! Rief, I'm taking you back to the inn. I have a shortcut," she said, motioning to the device on her back.

"Hubba... ababa... wha?" Rief said in response.

Karis smiled. She gave Tyrell a quick nod. "Thanks, Tyrell! You've made it so much easier to find Rief."

She wrapped her arms around Rief. "Hold on tight," she said.

Rief stared at her blankly. "What the heck is going on?" he shouted.

"I told you, I'm taking you back to - wait, were you crying recently?" she responded.

"NO!" Rief said a little too loudly. "I sprayed Tyrell with water! Stop asking! It's nothing!"

Karis shrugged. "Well, okay. Anyway, you'll want to hold on tighter than that. Bye, Tyrell!"

Rief hugged Karis tightly as he asked, "Why? What's going to haAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaa?"

There might have been more to his question, but it went unheard behind the rush of wind and the blur of ascension.

Tyrell was knocked back on his rear.

As he sat there, his face awash with spite and frustration, a few renegade drops of water fell from his hair onto the ground. He decided that he would have to take a look at himself in a mirror when he got the chance.

But for now, he would sit.

And so he sat, soggy and mad. And the pedestrians, satisfied with their daily allotment of excitement, went back to their normal lives.

Tyrell still did not remember which direction the inn lay in.

* * *

Matthew was still waiting.

And Sveta was still breathing.

At that point, those were the only two things that mattered to him.

Beyond standing up and stretching several times, he hadn't moved. He hadn't eaten. He had promised her that he'd be there when she woke up... IF she woke up, of course.

He shook his head to clear his brain. No, he trusted Tyrell and Karis. They'd find help, and then... and then Sveta would get better. She was sleeping so peacefully, lying there. One could be forgiven for thinking she was completely healthy... until the illusion was broken by another of her coughing fits. It was heartrending. Matthew wished desperately that he could do something about it.

But aside from the occasional cure he threw her way to keep her going, he was helpless.

He heard her stir. One of her eyes opened. She frowned. "...You again... stop teasing... 'S unfair."

Matthew's heart broke slightly even as he smiled. She still thought he was a figment of her imagination. What would she do when she got better? Matthew's spirits rose at the thought.

Sveta coughed. When she caught her breath again, she looked directly at Matthew. "...Turn 'round," she said.

Matthew raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

" 'S hot..." Sveta said weakly. "...Winn'er clothes... an' hot bed... need some air..."

Matthew's eyes widened with realization. Obediently, he turned around to face the wall. He heard shuffling, and the sound of cloth. After a minute, the bed Sveta had been placed on creaked.

"...All done..." Sveta said.

Matthew turned partially and peeked out of the corner of his eye. He saw a mercury clan outfit thrown untidily on the floor. Turning a bit further, he saw lumps in the bedsheet - she was back under the covers. Satisfied that he wouldn't see anything out of the ordinary, he turned the rest of the way. Sveta was indeed under the covers; she was lying facedown, her long braids trailing down over the folds in the bedsheet. Her arms were up underneath her pillow, supporting her head from below.

She mumbled something. Matthew cleared his throat. "Umm, sorry? I didn't hear you," he said.

Sveta lifted her face from the pillow. "...Boring dream so far..." she said. "Make yourself useful. Backrub."

Matthew turned beet-red. "What? I don't..."

She turned her head toward him and her smile was filled with razor-sharp teeth. "Baaack... ruuuub. Please." And she settled her face back into the pillow.

Matthew sat, indecisive. He looked at Sveta and her bare shoulders. Then he looked away. Could he? Should he? This seemed like a very bad idea.

Right then, Sveta gave a weak cough. She inhaled again, a shuddering breath. Then she sniffled. "...You there?" she called out quietly.

Matthew sighed. He pulled the chair closer and oh-so-carefully pulled the covers down a bit.

He put his hands on her lightly-furred shoulders. He didn't know how to do a proper backrub, but figured that she wasn't lucid enough to tell. He rubbed up and down, doing his best to keep his mind off of the potential implications.

Matthew heard a noise from within the pillow. "...Lower..." it said.

He cleared his throat, still somewhat embarrassed at what he was doing, and obediently began massaging her upper back. It had all been very sudden, he was sure when he had woken up he hadn't known the day would end up like this-

"...Lower..." came her voice again, muffled by the pillow. Matthew's blush intensified.

Hesitating, he moved his hands to her lower back, just above her hips. He moved widthwise along her back this time, just to avoid any accidents.

He felt a light shaking as he continued. Noticing movement at the foot of the bed, he saw a single padded foot sticking out from the sheets. As he continued to rub, it kicked rhythmically. Oookay. That was a little weird.

He had just about had enough when Sveta lifted her head up. She slowly turned it toward him, one eye open. She smiled slowly. Her deadly incisors gleamed in her mouth.

"...Loooooooooooowerrrrrr..." she said with a giggle.

Matthew threw his hands into the air. "Okay, you know what? This is great and all, but I don't even... Argh! You don't even think I'm real! This is going to... ugh. I don't..."

He stopped talking. He put his hands back on his knees and let out a long sigh. His face was still a dark red.

Sveta looked at him with a confused expression. She sighed, too. Then she coughed. Then she put her face back into the pillow. She said nothing.

And then the door opened with a slam.

"Matthew I found Rief, he's here to help and _wow, what the hell are you doing?_"Karis shouted. "Matthew, I'm... I'm speechless! You're with a helpless, infirm lady, and you immediately...? Argh!" And she stormed back out of the room, leaving Rief behind.

Rief just sighed. "...It's been a very long day. Can I just get this over with and have a nap or something?"

Matthew sat, frozen.

Sveta lifted her head from the pillow to speak. Her eyes were squeezed shut, as if she was feeling frustrated with a lack of service. "Rief... You are laaaaate. Too warm, hurry up... Also, tell this fake Matthew to get back to work."

Matthew felt like he was going to have a heart attack.

But Rief shrugged. "I don't even care anymore. This'll be five minutes, then you can get back to whatever awkward crap you were doing before I came in. Stand to the side, please," he said.

Matthew stood and walked to the other side of the bed. He folded his hands behind his back and looked around nervously. As Rief sat down in the chair, Matthew cleared his throat again. "I'll just... umm..."

He leaned over and pulled the covers back up to Sveta's shoulders.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_I am the king of mood whiplash. (But dammit is it ever hard to write Serious!Tyrell... I swear, those three - Tyrell, Karis and Rief - are just instant comedy gold the moment you put them into the same scene.)_

_I promise that this chapter is about as fanservicey as this fic is ever going to get (aside from the fact that the fic's existence is, in itself, fanservice). I wasn't even sure if I would write this part, but I was on a roll after the awkward landings, and the chapter would've been too short without it. I don't think I need to adjust the age rating upward; the most that happened was a hint at hinting at innuendo. I wrote and erased several more risque versions of the last sequence, I'm ashamed to say. _

_No, they are not available anywhere._


	18. A Moment's Respite

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Matthew stood anxiously - for more than one reason - as Rief did his thing. From where he watched, Matthew could see a steady, slow stream of psynergy pouring into Sveta's upper torso. Without Rief's mercury-born talents, all he knew was that Sveta was gradually gaining her strength back. No details. But at least it wasn't the last-resort survivability that a Potent Cure provided. This was real, honest progress. She was already coughing less, and she seemed to be breathing more easily.

He couldn't ask her, of course. She had already fallen back asleep. But not before grasping his hand tightly and refusing to let go. It would be heartwarming once he could feel his fingers again.

"So..." Matthew said cautiously. "Is she going to make it? Did Karis find you in time?"

Rief sighed and rolled his eyes. "Well, she's breathing again, isn't she? I think she'll live. No doubt your healing spells helped. Oh, and the backrub must've worked wonders."

"It wasn't what it looked like!" Matthew hissed.

But Rief laughed mirthlessly. "Oh, save it. It's been a rough day for me and I'm a little cranky. This 'oh it isn't what it looks like, she was choking, I was giving first aid' crap is just too much for me. And anyway, she accidentally mentioned your relationship to Felix and I back in Imil, so the secret's out. Between us, at least."

Matthew's shoulders slumped before he snapped back into focus. "Felix? Wait, my uncle Felix? You found him? How is he?" And in his mind, he thought, _I hope he doesn't tell my parents. That's really not something I need right now._

The healing energy stopped. Rief took in a deep breath and let it out. Then he wiped his hands on his robes. "That's all I can do for now. And yes, your uncle Felix. There's a lot to say about him, but frankly, I'm not in the mood, and the last thing Sveta needs is some surprised shouting in her ear," Rief said.

Matthew's eyes locked with Rief's. "That doesn't sound good. The fact that he didn't come with you... well, it concerns me a little. But if you think it can wait..."

Rief stood from his chair and walked to the door. "It's gotta. You know what I discovered today? I discovered that when Sveta has a fever, she sleeps through noises that would wake the dead. I also learned that Bilibin hates beastmen so much that they'll try to lynch anyone traveling with one, and that Tyrell has no concept of personal space, and that I really, really hate flying!"

He closed his eyes and put his hands on his temples. "Sveta can tell you about yesterday when she wakes up. For now, I'm grabbing a nap. See you later."

He opened the door and walked out. Just before he walked out of sight, he turned back to Matthew with a tired smile. "And yes, that was a 'when.' You did good, loverboy, despite what Karis probably thinks. Just make sure you're there when she wakes up," he said.

Matthew smiled back. He raised his trapped hand an inch. "I don't think I have much of a choice in that respect. But... thanks."

Rief closed the door behind him. Matthew stood for a moment longer before deciding that he'd earned a bit of a rest, too. He sat on the bed next to Sveta - his girlfriend, honest now, he thought happily - and settled in for another long wait. He flexed his fingers to keep the blood flowing. And then he took a look at her face, still sleeping soundly, but this time with no troubling coughing or weak breathing. He _had_ done well, he decided with a swell of pride, considering the condition she arrived in. He let himself sink into his position a little more. And then he closed his eyes for some rest of his own.

* * *

When the elevator finished its descent, Mia and Felix hopped off. Mia did some quick stretches, having been unable to move on her own for 24 hours, and Felix gave her a somewhat wider berth than necessary out of caution. His sword was sheathed on his back once again, but he would leave nothing to chance.

"So," Mia said once she was satisfied, and with a stern expression on her face, "What's going to happen now? You've scared my son off quite effectively, and your quarry has escaped."

Felix folded his arms. "I'm probably going to just wait here, actually. Tuaparang will be sending a rescue team to scout the area, and they may even have detected the psynergy vortex. There could be a djinn recovery team en route. What about you?"

Mia narrowed her eyes slightly and gave out a long sigh. "Honestly? I don't know. I could go back to Imil, but there's no way I'm catching up to Rief. My patients are in good hands, I left some instructions for the healer trainees and no one was in critical condition anymore anyway. My husband's on a hunting trip and won't be back for several weeks. And honestly, it's been a while since I saw any adventure."

Felix smirked. "Adventure? I'm flattered that you see it that way. And a little surprised, too. You're much more trusting than Rief and Sveta were."

Mia returned a sarcastic smile. "Remember 30 years ago, Felix? I still do. I remember you were a good man. Sure, you've turned to kidnapping helpless girls since then-"

"Helpless? Hah!" Felix responded. "She took down seven of my elite soldiers before even one of them could react."

"And if you had drawn your sword on her, she would have gone insane and died upon coming within 5 feet of you, yes," Mia said with a roll of her eyes. "She ABSOLUTELY could have taken you aside from that though, right? I mean, not counting all those djinn you have. How many was that again?"

Felix grunted. "A lot. Significantly more than you. Anyway, what's your point?"

"My point, MISTER Felix, is that you've fallen. Hard. Something about this High Empyror guy doesn't sound right, and it creeps me out how you talk about him with such praise." Mia paused. "I heard Rief's stories about the Grave Eclipse, and the man who caused that... well, can't be human. I just can't rationalize it."

A moment of tense silence passed.

And then Felix extended a hand.

"Come with me, then," he said. "Meet the Empyror for yourself. I promise you'll come to no harm, and it just might be the adventure you're looking for."

Mia looked at Felix like he was crazy. "No. I'm not joining your insane, genocidal group. In fact, YOU come with ME. Jenna has missed you desperately. She..." Mia cringed. "She was feeling a little lonely last I checked."

Felix lowered his hand. "Lonely? What, is _Isaac_ not enough for her?" Felix spat the name.

"Oh, and you're an absolutely perfect example of finding love in the right places, aren't you, Felix?" Mia said mockingly. "How's Karst? She still having visions of exacting revenge-"

"She's sitting in a tube in Tuaparang, after having several experiments go wrong that were trying to return the use of her legs to her." Felix's face showed no expression. "She'll die within an hour of being let out unless they figure out a proper solution. They've been trying for 20 years, with no success."

Mia stopped. Her momentum was lost, and even though Karst had been her enemy... she couldn't help but feel remorse. "I'm... I'm sorry to hear that."

Felix was undeterred. "What about you? When I left for Prox, you and Isaac were doing fairly well, weren't you? To be honest, I assumed Rief was his at first. What happened?"

Mia folded her hands, her lower lip trembling slightly. "I... we... decided we weren't right for each other. And apparently we were right. He married Jenna within two years of our breakup. I admit... it hurt a little, even though I was seeing someone else too by that point. Isaac and I have a close relationship, even now. A little more than friends, a little less than lovers. It's caused a lot of problems... for both of us."

She walked to a nearby water fountain and sat. Felix walked over and sat next to her. "We've got time before I need to go anywhere. Do you have to get something off your chest?"

Mia fidgeted a little. "Felix..." she began, "I know how much you care about your sister. And... understand that I have nothing against her. But I have reason to believe that she has everything against me. And I'm not entirely certain her hatred is misplaced."

Felix nodded, but said nothing.

"Four years ago... well, we were all going through a bit of a rough time. Garet's wife had just died, and Ivan had left for a bit of soul-searching. As for me... my husband had been acting strangely, and I began to suspect him of adultery. Isaac was the only person I could turn to.

"I went to visit him in Kalay. Jenna knew I was coming, and she was fine with it... but she didn't know Isaac and I had been together at any point. Strange, I know, but... Isaac and I had two short stints, the first of which was just after Venus Lighthouse, and the second was before Kalay was established as, well, the new Vale. Jenna was in Bilibin for quite some time after the Golden Sun, remember? By the time she came back, Isaac and I had gone our separate ways, and... it just never came up.

"Anyway, she found out I was his ex-girlfriend at the worst possible time and stormed out of the house. I had a bit of a breakdown... Isaac talked things through with me and I bared my heart to him about everything I had been going through. The details are a little hazy now... I don't remember what we talked about, but..."

Mia stopped. Felix cleared his throat. "But what?"

"I... I don't know. I'm having a hard time getting the details straight, for some reason. It's... foggier than it should be, considering how important it was. But the point is, Jenna came back in to apologize and... I had put Isaac in a bit of a compromising position."

"How compromising?" Felix asked sternly.

Mia paused. She raised a hand to her temple and rubbed it slowly. "I don't remember, exactly. It couldn't have been much... what I remember is that it was entirely my fault, and that Jenna was furious. Isaac and I, we were holding hands... and, maybe I had kissed him or something? It's weird, I..." She trailed off. "I don't remember. I have the weirdest headache right now, too."

"...A headache?" Felix asked. "This was four years ago, you say?"

Mia nodded. "Why? Something happen?"

Felix shook his head. "No, it's nothing. Sorry. Continue."

Mia sighed. "Alright," she said. "Anyway, Jenna was distraught. She and Isaac got in a huge fight, and she demanded that I leave immediately. I went back to Imil, but... last I heard, she and Isaac were separated. Isaac's been living on Goma Plateau since then. He took his son Matthew, and Garet went too, taking his son Tyrell."

Felix folded his hands in his lap. "Tell me about Garet. How did his wife die?"

Mia looked at Felix, nonplussed, but nodded her head. "She was... a very nice woman. We were never close, but we got along well from the short time we spent together. She wasn't an adept, but she lived in Kalay. And... one day, her body turned up. The assumption was that she had been attacked by bandits. I never got a look at the body, but apparently there were a lot of cuts and bruises.

"Garet was devastated. And his son, Tyrell, was only 12 at the time. He had to come up to Imil for a short while because Garet just wasn't capable of taking care of him. The timing was okay for me because both of my kids had just left with Kraden for some extra academic studies, but... I wish it had never had to go that way. When Garet finally recovered, he let himself go a little bit. He's put on weight. Maybe that changed when he went to Goma Plateau, but I haven't heard anything positive."

Felix took a short while to respond. He was staring intently at his gloved hands. "...I'm sorry to hear that."

Mia nodded. "Me too. Life just isn't fair sometimes. You know that as well as I do. I'm... I'm sorry about that crack against Karst, Felix. That was wrong. You know her much better than I do, and if she's important enough to you that you'd join up with... with them... then maybe..."

Felix stood. "That's not the only reason. It's the main one, but not the only one."

Mia watched Felix as he took several steps away. Then she looked back down at her hands. "You... don't enjoy what you do. You can't. I wouldn't be able to believe that," she said with some uncertainty.

He nodded. "You're right. I don't. But I do my very best to keep them grounded from within. Tuaparang is very xenophobic, and if they chose to expand, there isn't much that could stop them. I exert as much power as I can to keep them at bay. It's easier to do when they trust me. Maintaining that trust requires me to do things sometimes that I'm not exactly okay with. But if it means the safety of the world, I'm willing to sell my soul just a little."

"...Felix."

"What?"

Mia shook her head. "None of this makes sense. I look at you now, and I listen to you as you speak, and you're everything I remember. You're the man who led us through the lighthouses and helped us save the world. And now you're the man who has given up everything for a chance to hold back an unstoppable army."

She stood. "Yet you defend a murderer. Answer me. Why?"

"You refer to the Empyror," he said. It wasn't a question.

"Correct. I know he caused the Grave Eclipse. You must know of even more wrongs he has committed. Why are you defending him?" she repeated.

Felix had no answer.

Mia sighed. "It's been nice seeing you again, Felix. Shame what happened." She turned and began to leave.

"Wait."

Mia stopped.

Felix turned toward her and, again, extended a hand toward her. "Join me. Just... come and see what it's like. Judge for yourself whether the Empyror is worth defending. Who knows? You could provide that extra push that ends their mad militaristic leanings for good."

Mia approached him. "Felix, something is wrong with you. I'm saying this not as a Warrior of Vale to a Tuaparang General, but as a friend to a friend. You aren't thinking clearly. You're acting strangely. Something about this Empyror has corrupted you."

She grasped his hand and shook it.

"I owe it to your sister to do my best to fix you. I'll go with you, Felix, if only because you need my help."

Felix gave a sad smile. "Mia... thank you. I'm ashamed to say it, but you might be right. It'll be good to have a familiar face around again. But give the Empyror a chance. He means well. I know he does."

Mia gave him a skeptical look. "We'll see, Felix."

They sat and waited until the roar of airship engines could be heard overhead, and then Mia followed Felix into the great unknown.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Some much-needed backstory here in this chapter. There IS a plot going on, of course! Can't spend the entire story on adorable fever!Sveta antics. I have a timeline written out, so everything should be internally consistent. If you notice anything out-of-place, please tell me in a review or PM!_

_I really think I should give names to some of these family members. I mean, Mia has a husband she presumably loves, who is probably still alive but is apparently not around very often because we haven't seen him despite spending lots of time at her house. Ivan explicitly has a wife who I haven't given a shred of thought to. Garet has a wife who I've stated to be dead, but she needs a name too. Sheba's probably in Contigo or Lalivero, and she might be married too, but I haven't actually decided._

_Mia's husband will probably be named Frederic (ie. Freddie of the Mercury Clan, I am so witty you guys) but I don't know about anybody else. Are there commonly-accepted fannames in the GS community? I haven't checked._

_Oh, and I realized something today. I've been intentionally unclear on the details of the Grave Eclipse (duration, death toll, etc) because the game doesn't give you a lot of info on that either. But keep in mind that it lasted long enough for a body to decompose; you can head to Champa and use spirit sense on skeletons belonging to warriors who fell to shadow creatures. We're talking about spontaneous creation of omnicidal monsters from any shadow cast by the eclipse. Wikipedia says that it takes several weeks in a tropical climate for a human body to skeletonize - that's 3-4 weeks STRAIGHT of monsters spawning from every shadow to eat you and your family._

_Remember the end, where all the critters in Belinsk showed up on the bridge to wave off Matthew and his friends?_

_That was the ENTIRE TOWN._

_Yeah. _

_Obviously there were a couple more survivors in my canon but Belinsk is hurting BAD. My guess is that it wasn't as bad the farther you got away from the Luna Tower (which is why Mia saved Imil single-handedly, and why Carver's Camp is still standing) but Belinsk had no warning, no adepts aside from Volechek, and no way to get help from the outside. Sitting at the exact center of the Eclipse, 90% casualties are not unthinkable, and in fact may be a little conservative in my opinion._

_Kinda makes you wonder how Bilibin's doing so well, doesn't it? *devilish laugh*_


	19. Somebody to Love

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

The windows lay open, the bustle of the outside world beginning to fall dim after a long day. The waning rays of sunlight streamed in through the partially-open blinds. Two figures lay on the bed in the room; one fully dressed on top of the covers, the other somewhat less-dressed, lying on her front with the bedsheets up to her shoulders. While they were both asleep, their hands were clasped in a tight embrace. In that instant, at that location, everything was perfect in the world.

There was no chaos, no uncertainty. Only peace. The war between two nations was a distant memory; the eclipse, a forgotten dream.

Sveta woke up.

She regained consciousness slowly, at first. She stirred, stretching slightly. When she felt resistance in her left hand, she opened an eye to peek at it. She loosened her grip slightly, worried for the structural integrity of Matthew's fingers, and followed the line of the arm up to gaze at his face.

She was torn. On the one hand, she had had enough of all the delusions, the impossibilities, the inability to distinguish fact from fiction. But on the other... this was a fiction she could handle. She had forgotten the last time she was sure what was real. When was it? Imil? Was the 'real' her still in the north, freezing to death? Had she even run into Rief in the first place, or was that an illusion too?

Here, she was warm. She was safe. She could almost breathe clearly. And she was with her favorite person in the world, the only one left to her after all that had happened.

She rolled onto her back, still covered by the blankets, and put her hands behind her head. Memories of all the other figments flowed through her head. Happy memories, all of them. But was it right to get lost in escapism? Rief needed her, maybe. Belinsk needed her, probably. The real Matthew... she needed him. And while this was all well and good, it was about time for it to end.

She reached over and patted his shoulder lovingly. "It has been fun, Fake Matthew. Very fun. But I shall take my leave of you now. Farewell."

She closed her eyes, put her hands on her head and let the Jupiter Psynergy blow away the fog in her mind. The world around her began to swim back into focus, and once again she felt the pain in her lungs, understood her own sickness, and knew the world for what it was.

When she opened her eyes, nothing had changed.

She sat bolt upright. Matthew was _still there_. It was really him. She had made it. She was still sick, but she had made it.

And then the implications flooded into her mind.

So he had ACTUALLY been there the whole time?

"Oh, dear," Sveta said sadly. Her head sank. As it sank, her gaze moved downward, and she quickly grabbed the bedsheets to cover herself once she realized her own state. Her face turned a deep scarlet.

The sudden movements caused Matthew to stir. Seeing him begin to move, Sveta shifted quickly to put her back (and backside) to the wall, and held the pile of bedsheets to her chest as tightly as she was able. As Matthew began to open his eyes, she stared at him with her eyes wide open, her heart racing, and her mind awhirl.

Matthew smiled and laughed lightly when he saw her. "Feeling better, I see?" he asked.

Sveta's ears fell, but the rest of her remained frozen in place. Her knuckles began to whiten from squeezing the sheets so tightly. "What happened? Exactly how much was real?"

"Well," Matthew said as he sat up, "I'm not sure what you dreamed about. You told me you loved me and I told you the same, that part stands out. Remember that?"

Sveta blushed more deeply, but a hint of a smile came to her face. "You are really here. I can barely believe it. It feels like it has been forever since I saw you last. The real you, I mean."

Matthew laughed again. "You told me you wanted me here when you woke up. It turned out to be a lot easier than you made it out to be."

"I... I think I remember that part," Sveta said. Foggy memories filled her mind. She had been really out of it. She had told 'fake' Matthew to stay with her, to be the real thing, several times. Which one did he mean? Oh, dear.

She cleared her throat. "Th-thank you, Matthew. For being there, I mean. It is still foggy, but you were always caring. Even when..." She trailed off.

Matthew took her hand. "It's alright. That's what I'm here for, right? You scared me. I didn't want to lose you. To be honest, when you asked me to, umm... well, I'm not sure I would have under normal circumstances. Not this soon. But the thought that I might never get another chance..."

Sveta squeaked. Was he...? Did they...? "W-well... I... I think I remember that part, too. You were, uhm, naturally talented, despite a lack of experience. It was better than I would have hoped."

Matthew raised his eyebrows, but nodded happily. "Really? When I started, I was still a little embarrassed, actually, but you seemed really eager, and..."

Sveta buried her face in the blankets. Yes, they did. She didn't know what to think, but... "Matthew, I... I am... glad it was you. Th-thank you. If anyone else had... had done that, I..."

Matthew put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry! I enjoyed it, too, after I got over the initial awkwardness. "

Sveta bunched up her shoulders.

"You have very nice fur, by the way. Soft," Matthew continued.

She bit her lower lip hard.

"It was kind of funny, actually. Your leg wouldn't stop kicking. I've never seen that happen before-"

"Yes! I am glad you liked it. I liked it too," Sveta said rather quickly. "So, umm, what has happened? Why are the three of you in Bilibin?"

Matthew raised his eyebrows. "Isn't it obvious?" he said with a smile. "I dragged them along to help me stop the war. What about you? Why risk running around in enemy territory?"

"Wait, a war? Enemy territory?" Sveta said. "Matthew, what is going on?"

Matthew's face became serious. "Sveta... Bilibin just declared war on Morgal yesterday. Our parents - the Warriors of Vale, that is - have connections with McCoy the First, so Tyrell, Karis and I came here to see if we could convince them to pull out of it. What about you? You obviously wouldn't have left Morgal under these circumstances without a good reason. How'd you end up here?"

"Well... I will preface this by saying that it seemed like a good idea at the time, but... the Tuaparang appeared, attempted to kidnap me, and I went along willingly because I thought it would help motivate Mr Bentley to find a new queen." Sveta cleared her throat before continuing. "Then the airship we were in exploded, I went crazy for a few minutes, Felix turned out to be a Tuaparang general, I got hypothermia and then pneumonia, Rief saved me, and Felix ran away holding Mia hostage after discovering that his kidnapping victim was dating his nephew. I decided it would be best to find you in Kalay to tell you before returning to my kingdom. What happened today was a little hazy, but I think you have a fair idea of the events that led to our fortunate meeting."

"Wow. You've, uh, had a busy few days," Matthew said. He paused for a moment. "...So Uncle Felix is alive."

"I... am sorry for my role in this. I do not want you to have to pick between your family and myself. But he stated that he intended to complete his mission of kidnapping me... which he said in no uncertain terms would result in my eventual harm. And I will oppose the Tuaparang in every capacity. As long as Felix is with them, he is my enemy," Sveta said, ears drooping with regret.

Matthew nodded. "I'm okay with that," he said.

"You are? Matthew, he's your uncle," Sveta said with shock. "He led the Warriors of Vale, including both of your parents, on their quest to save the world. If not for him, they would most likely have failed. I am just... I am a silly girl who abandoned her kingdom on a whim."

"Felix is a man I've heard a lot about, but whom I have never met in person. He's a stranger working for the people who caused the Grave Eclipse. My loyalties don't lie with him," Matthew asserted. "And as for you... you DIDN'T abandon your kingdom. You went willingly with your kidnappers, but you would have gone with them either way. And you surrendered your claim to royalty, your birthright, because you felt it was in your nation's best interests to do so. So what if you had some selfish reasons as well? Every girl dreams of being a princess, and you gave that up for the good of others. You had a life of luxury, and even when everything was handed to you on a silver platter, you still always thought of your subjects first."

He sagged in his seat. "...I'm the one at fault, really. I didn't really need to go and we both knew it. If I had stayed, the whole kidnapping could have been averted."

Sveta shook her head. "Felix is strong. Stronger than you realize. If you had stayed and tried to defend me, you would have been killed. Then where would I be?"

As she spoke, she shifted closer to him. She put one of her arms around his waist, and rested her head on his shoulder. "Matthew... my parents died when I was young. My brother was the only person in the world I was allowed to be close to. And then he died, too. I thought I had nothing, no one. And then... you walked into my life. I am glad you did.

"So I must ask you... will you stay? As part of my life, I mean? You make me feel more confident, more able, just by being around... I know not what the future holds for me, but if you were with me..."

"I should never have left in the first place, Sveta," Matthew replied, putting his arm around her,"and if you don't want to me, I never will again."

They stayed that way for some time.

* * *

"Ivan, can you spare a minute?" Jenna said as she approached.

Isaac and Garet were setting up tents a short distance away, and Ivan was cleaning up after dinner. He looked up at her and gave an easy smile. "Of course. What do you need?"

Jenna fidgeted with her hands. She bit her lower lip and avoided looking directly at Ivan. "Well... I mean... it feels weird to say this, but... would you kindly read my mind for me?"

Ivan put down what he was holding. "Right now? Why?"

Jenna's eyes took on a look of sad regret. "Well... you did it for Isaac. I mean... oh, this seems so silly... things feel so normal now that we're back on the road. It's as if nothing ever happened to him. And... when you read his memories, it seemed that nothing HAD happened. So... I want you to see if my recollection of the incident is... flawed in some way."

"Flawed?" Ivan said with a cocked eyebrow. "You mean, what if the memories you have are fake, or implanted in some way? If there's anything wrong with them?"

Jenna nodded.

Ivan put his hand on her shoulder and furrowed his brow. He looked away from her, his eyes glazing over somewhat. Jenna got the idea and let her mind drift, floating back to that moment 4 years ago that caused all of this confusion...

* * *

_"Wait, you mean you and Mia were together before? Why didn't you tell me?"_

_Jenna looked sternly at Isaac. "I mean, I'm not mad or anything! I just don't understand why you felt it necessary to hide that fact!"_

_Isaac held up his hands. "I wasn't hiding it! It just never came up in conversation! We had a thing, yes. Twice. And you weren't around either time. Both times, we broke up and it was mutual. We're just friends now."_

_"Yes, and you were just friends in between, too! I dunno, Isaac, forgive me for being just a bit suspicious when Mia shows up out of the blue and you pretty much let her throw herself at you!" Jenna folded her arms, the fire showing plainly in her eyes. _

_Mia frowned. "Jenna, I think you may be making a bigger deal out of this than it needs to be. You married Isaac, not me. I married another man as well. I had two children with him and I love them all very much. But Isaac is a close friend of mine. If I need advice, why is it so wrong of me to go to him?"_

_"Why can't you go to Garet, then? Or Ivan? They're both close friends of yours as well, aren't they? Why go straight to your ex-boyfriend?" Jenna said with accusation in her tone._

_"Well, to be fair, Ivan's out soul-searching, and Garet's not really in a mood for discussion, in case you haven't noticed," Mia responded somewhat sarcastically._

_"So now I'm insensitive, too? I don't know, I just...!" Jenna stopped and pursed her lips. "Every time I see you two together, you seem to be getting just a LITTLE closer than I'm okay with. Now, I try not to be jealous, and I trust Isaac. But now all of a sudden I find you have a history? And that, in fact, the first break-up you had didn't take? Again, forgive me for being just a bit suspicious!"_

_Isaac put his hand on his wife's shoulder. "Jenna, you fought alongside Mia all those years ago, too. You know she's trustworthy. You know I'M trustworthy. And I would never betray you. You mean the world to me, and I would never do anything to risk that. Besides, Mia just needs a little advice. She's worried about her own troubles. She'd do the same thing for me, or for you, if you felt the need to go to her."_

_Jenna thought for a moment and then nodded, but her expression did not change. "Alright, fine. I'm sorry, both of you, for maybe jumping to conclusions. But there is one more thing I want to know."_

_Isaac and Mia nodded expectantly._

_"How far did you get? How close were you two to tying the knot and leaving me out in the dust?"_

_Mia scratched her head bashfully. Isaac simply stood, unmoving._

_"It was more of a superficial romance, I'd say," Isaac told her. "We broke up both times because there wasn't really any concrete connection. Marriage wouldn't have happened."_

_Mia folded her hands and looked away, but nodded in agreement. "We were close friends and that's it. Closer than friends, yes, but not by a lot. The only reason we'd consider marriage is if I had ended up preg...nant..." _

_Mia blushed and covered her mouth once she realized what she said. Isaac looked away._

_Jenna's eyes widened for a moment, and then snapped back into an expression of fury. "You mean you two...? Argh! And you never thought this was important enough to TELL ME? Well, fine! You had a superficial relationship that was just a LIIIIITTLE intimate! But I shouldn't worry, she's just coming for advice regarding her own relationship that she thinks might be sinking! That's completely fine!"_

_She turned on her heel and walked out the door. "Don't let me get in your way," she said before slamming the door._

* * *

"I've already seen this part," Ivan said. "Isaac remembers the same thing. Mia could've been a bit more tactful, but it's accurate with what I know."

Jenna bit her lower lip again, but nodded. "So you want me to skip to..."

"The relevant part, yes."

Jenna took a deep breath. "Alright." She swallowed hard. "Here it goes."

She closed her eyes and did her best to recall the very same event she had shut out for years.

After several seconds, Ivan's eyes snapped open. His face turned bright red. "Wow, okay! That's DEFINITELY not the same thing Isaac saw!"

Jenna jumped. "Well, okay, I wasn't expecting that sort of reaction, to be honest. Shall we continue, or...?"

Ivan shook his head fervently. "Nope! I've never seen that much of Mia before, and I don't think it'd be appropriate for me to do so again."

Jenna scowled. "Fine. What do you think about the memory itself? Am I-"

"No, Jenna, you aren't crazy," Ivan interrupted. "There's, uhm, no chance that there was any mistake in there, or that you thought you saw something that wasn't there. Your memories are simply incompatible. It's impossible for them to have both happened. And as far as I could tell, they're both real memories. I've never encountered a fake memory, but..."

"But what?" Jenna said, disappointed. "M-maybe he was just so ashamed, that... I don't know, maybe he blocked it out, covered it up with his own explanation? Or, or maybe I did that? Maybe I-"

Ivan shook his head. "I've seen people block out memories that have traumatic associations before. This isn't one of them. It just... it's wrong. It doesn't make any sense." He cradled his head. "This has never happened to me before, seeing the same thought from two honest perspectives and seeing it completely contradictory. It's given me a bit of a headache, to be honest."

Jenna folded her arms. "What, exactly, did Isaac see? Leave out no details," she said.

"When you came in, the two of them were holding hands at your dinner table. That was what Isaac thought set you off. And nothing damning happened before or after that, either." Ivan rubbed his temples.

Jenna rolled her eyes. "Well... thanks anyway, Ivan. I don't know what I was hoping for, but at least I know that my relationship with my husband is exactly as complicated as I thought it was. Sure will be fun to share a tent with him tonight!"

"What can I say, Jenna?" Ivan said with a shrug. "I've told you the whole truth as far as I know it. There's obviously something missing there. Maybe I should go visit Mia and see what she thinks?"

Jenna shook her head. "Maybe later. I promised Isaac I'd set this thing aside until we were done. We'll reach the lighthouse tomorrow, I can wait for a few days at least. Heck, we could stop on the way and pick up my good-for-nothing son. Teach him to stop seducing royalty before he gets into as much trouble as his parents did, you know?"

Ivan looked back at the post-dinner mess. "Lots to do, I guess. Sorry I wasn't more help."

"S'alright," Jenna replied. She yawned loudly. "I think it's time for me to turn in. You've got first watch, right? I'll see you in the morning, then." She turned and walked toward the tents.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Holy crap, what happened? My reader count just about DOUBLED on Wednesday, according to my traffic window. Either that or somebody checked for updates a whole bunch of times from a whole bunch of computers._

_Anyway, I know I promised a Tyrell "reveal" this chapter, but the passage I wrote felt forced. There are hints there (and hints in previous chapters) but it needs some more build-up to be believable. That should hopefully come soon, but I'm gonna stop telling you guys when big plot twists come up. Plot development isn't something you can (or should) schedule. It's gotta happen on its own._

_One of my favorite things to do when I write is to leave hints all over the place and then expand on them later; it lets me leave stuff to the readers' imaginations and then reward them when they're close. Sometimes I have to be explicit, though. Like now, for example: in case you didn't get the joke, no, Matthew and Sveta did NOT sleep together, he just implied it by accident when she subtly asked him. Sveta's still confused as hell about what was real and what wasn't about the day's events, and Matthew isn't being terribly forthcoming._

_IF STUFF IS HAPPENING THAT DOESN'T MAKE SENSE PLEASE TELL ME, SOMETIMES I MAKE MISTAKES!_


	20. Affirmation

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"Matthew?"

"...Hmm?"

"I am happy that we have finally proclaimed our undying love for each other, but I would like to get dressed now while I am still lucid."

"Oh! Right, umm, sorry. I'll just... one moment."

Matthew stood and looked out the window pointedly. While he was turned away, he heard the covers behind him rustle, followed by bare padded feet moving along the wooden floor. The second floor of the inn didn't provide much of a view, surrounded as it was by several buildings of the same size or bigger, but Matthew did get a good look at the colors of the sky, pinkish toward the west and black toward the east. The day was almost done, but he felt as though he had accomplished little. Aside from saving a very important life, that is.

"Oh crap! I forgot about Kraden!" he said suddenly. "We were going to meet him in this city when we arrived, but I kind of got sidetracked. It's almost nighttime, so I guess it's too late to go find him now..."

Amidst the rustling of clothes, Sveta responded. "I am sure he will be alright with it. He seems like a very agreeable man. But what about me?"

Matthew turned halfway to look at her, and then caught himself and jerked back toward the window. "What do you mean? You seem a lot healthier now, and even in your weakened state you traveled from Imil to here perfectly fine."

"I am... somewhat better. I am no longer dying, at least. But the moment this Boon fades, I will be delirious again, and it admittedly takes some willpower to avoid coughing painfully every few seconds." Sveta paused as she fussed with the ill-fitting robes. "Also, do not forget that I am apparently at war with these people. That helps explain their reaction when they saw me earlier, but it makes it significantly more risky to go outside unneeded, especially when all I have is a hood."

Matthew thought for a moment. She would probably have to stay at the inn. If she stayed, Rief had to as well. But...

"I'll stay here too, then. Karis and Tyrell will have to go alone."

"You may turn around if you wish, Matthew," Sveta said after a moment. "But why? Rief, I understand, but why do you feel it necessary to stay here?" She squinted and raised an eyebrow. "You... did not mean that 'never leaving you again' statement literally, did you?"

Matthew turned and smiled. "Not literally, no. But I'm worried that someone saw you come this way after you wolfed out. If McCoy sends guards to apprehend you, I want to be in their way."

"I... had not considered that." Sveta's eyes and ears dropped in dismay. "I would appreciate it, then, but... then our relationship will be..."

"Sveta, I'm sorry to say that the secrecy of our little affair was doomed from the start," Matthew said. "Rief already knows, Karis will hopefully guess, and Tyrell... well, things tend to go over Tyrell's head anyway, so if Karis doesn't tell him then he won't find out." He approached Sveta. "But keep in mind that Karis's father is a mindreader, as is Sheba, a close friend of our parents. Once one of them got close to either of us, it'd all be over. Plus, if we had just stayed in Belinsk, someone would've found out, and then the gossip would've spread. The Queen with one of the children of the Warriors of Vale? How _scandalous!_" Matthew said with a laugh.

Sveta's shoulders slumped. Again with the scandals.

"Well... it was fun while it lasted," Sveta said sadly. "Are you alright with everyone finding out? A-apparently before we were together, we were... how did Rief put it... all over each other? He seemed to think that the rest of the group might think we were already a pair. So it may not come as a surprise."

Matthew nodded. "I'm fine with it. It means we can be a bit more open, at least. I'm just dreading when Tyrell accuses me of coming up here just to save you..."

Sveta's ears twitched. "...Did you?"

Matthew paused. He nodded with some uncertainty. "Umm... mostly. Yeah, it was about 90% because of you."

Sveta smiled mischievously. "You are the sweetest idiot I know." And with that, she threw her arms around him and kissed him.

Matthew returned the favor, hugging her tightly. Now, this? This was worth the trouble.

When they pulled away, Sveta coughed several times. "I... I am sorry. I hope I am not contagious."

"I spent about half the day right next to you or in contact with you. If you're contagious, I've already got it," Matthew said jokingly.

Sveta blushed, but smiled sweetly. "Well, if you are fine with it, then..." She moved in for round two.

Just then, the door opened with a slam. Matthew and Sveta turned sharply to look, but neither had the presence of mind to move apart.

Tyrell looked in on them, arms wrapped tightly around each other, bedsheets wrinkled and tossed aside. "Uh... hey, guys. Am I interrupting anything?"

There was a long silence.

Sveta turned to Matthew. "Wait, the door was unlocked the _entire time?_"

* * *

Mia sat across from Felix in the Tuaparang airship, much as Sveta had done just a day before. She was not bound; as a guest of one of the generals, she was to be granted all of the amenities available to her. Unfortunately this amounted to having a seat near a window so she could look out if she wished. The compartment was still cramped; there were fewer soldiers, but one could barely stand without bumping their head against the ceiling.

"Fel- Umm, Doublon? Are you alright?" Mia asked. She had almost forgotten that in Tuaparang territory, he went by his pseudonym.

Felix nodded, but remained silent. The green tint of his cheeks was plain for all to see, but his underlings were generally smart enough not to mention it.

"Don't like flying," he said.

Mia cocked her head. "But didn't you spend a whole lot of time on-"

"DON'T. Like flying." Felix moved as little as possible as he replied. "Never did. Ever."

She nodded. He always did seem to go belowdecks when Piers' ship took flight. She never saw him - she LOVED flying, and spent as much time as possible with the wind in her hair on deck. But now that she thought about it... well, maybe she should have gone with him to see if she could help. She was a better healer than Piers, after all, and he was always busy piloting anyway.

Resting her head in her hands, she wondered how long it would be until they got back to Tuaparang. She was almost regretting the decision, but... she had a duty to Felix. Not so much because she told him she'd give the Empyror a chance - she had no intention whatsoever of that, of course - but because something had changed Felix for the worse. Had it been Karst's near-death? Was it just the experience of being away from everything he had known for so long? Or had his turn to darkness been so gradual that he simply hadn't noticed it?

Whatever the cause, she would do her best to turn him back around. He had been gone for 30 years. No one had even known if he was still ALIVE. Jenna had probably accepted him as dead by now.

Mia pondered on the best way to get a message out to her friends in Kalay.

Surely they'd want in on some of the action.

Mia smiled evilly at Felix. " 'S not funny," he said weakly, completely misunderstanding her intent.

_First, we'll deal with this Empyror guy_, she thought to herself, _and then we'll move on to you, Felix. We'll make you better, somehow. And it'll hurt us more than it hurts you. Tough love, Felix. You'll learn to enjoy it, one way or another._

Felix only saw Mia staring intently at him and looked away nervously.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Short update tonight because I started late. Might not be one tomorrow, depending on whether or not I decide sleep will take priority._

_I feel like the Matthew/Sveta parts in this chapter went much more naturally than in the last one. I'll try to compare the two to see what changed; hopefully I can avoid the more egregious romantic cliches in favor of a more realistic relationship (yes, I know I'm pushing it already, they're having sloppy makeouts after two days, sheesh) but it might have just been the situation they were in that was hard to write._


	21. For Queen and Country

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"Tyrell! Uh, hi. What, er, brings you around these parts?" Matthew winced at his own awkwardness as he stumbled over his words.

Tyrell folded his arms. "In case you forgot, I'm staying at this inn, too. I was coming to chew you out for forgetting about me! I was wandering out in that city ALL DAY trying to find this damn inn again, why didn't you send Karis back out?"

Matthew blushed. "...Sorry about that."

Tyrell waved a hand dismissively. "Oh, whatever. She probably wouldn't have been in the mood anyway. She seemed pretty dejected when I walked by her door. What's eating her, do you know?"

"That was, uh, also my bad," Matthew said, cringing. "See, I kept forgetting to lock the door... and, uh... well, Sveta's feeling better now! That's the good news!" He finished with an insincere smile.

"So you've just been here all day looking after her?" Tyrell said, rolling his eyes. "Well, whatever. I actually did a bit of work while you were here all day screwing the pooch."

At that moment, Sveta pushed herself away from Matthew and glared at Tyrell. "I understand that you are resentful about being forgotten today," she said harshly, "but that gives you NO excuse to resort to racial slurs! As queen of the surviving beastmen of Morgal, I will have to demand somewhat more respect than that. You are my friend, Tyrell, and I am willing to forgive you, but that was the most callous thing I have ever heard you say!"

Tyrell stared blankly.

Matthew cleared his throat. "Umm, Sveta? 'Screwing the pooch' is a term that implies laziness or a lack of any useful work. He wasn't trying to accuse us of, uh..."

Sveta's face turned a deep scarlet. She folded her hands and stared at her feet.

"Wait, so... DID you?" Tyrell asked awkwardly. "I mean, you don't have to tell me, but-"

"No!" Matthew said quickly. "Nonono. No. Nothing like that."

Sveta looked at Matthew with some alarm. "We did not?"

Matthew shook his head.

"But... you said... and I... what?" Sveta blushed even more deeply. "Oh dear."

Matthew scratched his head and Tyrell inched backward out of the room.

"Matthew, before we encounter this situation again, what DID really happen today? I do not remember clearly," Sveta said quietly.

"You woke up, thought I was a dream, and went back to sleep. Then you woke up, told me to turn around, and... you know what? Let's save this for later," Matthew responded. "Tyrell, you said you did a bit of work? What turned up?"

Tyrell nodded and cleared his throat, doing his best to help change the subject. "Well, the mood around town is pretty low. People are scared. Some people are still whispering about the Grave Eclipse. No news from Vault, by the way. No one I spoke to has any idea where the refugees are. I actually overheard some people who were worried because they haven't heard from friends over there in weeks. I'm sorry, Matthew."

Matthew nodded solemnly. "We knew the chances weren't great that my grandparents had arrived here safely, especially after we saw the ruins of Vault. Thanks for trying, though. What about the war? Any news about that?"

Tyrell looked away bitterly. "The Bilibin army has already set out through Border Town. From the sound of it, they've got a lot of soldiers."

"How is that possible?" Sveta asked. "Casualties from the Grave Eclipse should have been enormous. Matthew, are there any Adepts of note who live in the area that may have supported the city?"

Matthew thought for a moment, but shook his head. "The only person I can think of is Karis's aunt, Hama. She's a talented and wise Jupiter adept, but... nowhere near as combat-capable as any of us. And anyway, she lives a good distance from the city." He furrowed his brow. "Now that I think about it, you're right, though - the streets have been packed all day. It sounds terrible to say it, but... shouldn't there be a LOT fewer people still standing?"

Sveta hugged herself with worry. "Matthew... I had been wondering how Bilibin could justify war so soon after that disaster. But if they suffered so few casualties..."

Tyrell clenched his fists. "They knew it was coming! They had to!" He smacked the wall. "Those cheating bastards waited until Morgal was down and out, and now they're sending in soldiers to finish them for good!"

Matthew shook his head. "Tyrell, WE didn't know the Eclipse was happening until the tower activated. How could they have seen it coming?"

"It... does seem almost too convenient," Sveta said. "Morgal is weaker than it has ever been. Our soldiers are tired, our citizenry is nearly nonexistent, and... the queen is gone."

"Do you want us to take you back to Belinsk, Sveta?" Tyrell asked. "I know you and Matthew have some catching up to do, but..."

"I do not know, Tyrell. I appreciate the thought, but-"

"But I'd be going with her," Matthew said. "so the catching up is irrelevant."

Sveta smiled softly. The cat was out of the bag, as the saying went; she stepped over to Matthew and took his hand in hers.

Tyrell laughed. "My gosh, you two are so sappy it's almost disgusting."

"I'm, uh, surprised you're taking this so calmly," Matthew said with a raised eyebrow.

"Taking what so calmly?"

"The revelation that Sveta and I are, uh, together now."

"What, it's news?"

"_Yes._"

"But you've... she's... guys, what? It's taken you THIS long?"

Matthew and Sveta looked at each other with surprise. They simultaneously turned back toward Tyrell.

He continued. "I know for a fact that Sveta's had a thing for you pretty much since she's met you. And YOU, Matthew, seemed to develop a crush of your own almost immediately after. That was fucking weeks ago. When did you two get together?"

The pair looked at each other again. Sveta spoke first. "The, umm, day before yesterday. When Matthew visited my castle." She clutched his hand more tightly. He gave a sympathetic squeeze in response.

"Goddammit, you two. SO clueless." Tyrell put his palm directly onto his face. "Sometimes I wonder how people can miss this stuff. Seriously, it's like you're _oblivious to everything._"

Sveta and Matthew chuckled, having both caught the unwitting irony.

"Anyway, you two should make a decision by tomorrow, I think. We have to meet up with Kraden and he'll want to know our next move. And Matthew, I think you should have a talk with Karis. I'm not sure what she saw, but we need her functional, don't we? Can't have her wasting the day away crying and sulking," Tyrell said.

"Crying and...? Tyrell, what are you talking about?" asked Matthew.

Tyrell rolled his eyes. "Oblivious. Come on, guys. Karis has had her eye on Matthew since she was like, 11."

Matthew went pale. "What? Why am I always the last person to find out about these things?"

Sveta narrowed her eyes and put her arms around Matthew possessively.

"Whatever, man. Talk to Karis if you want. I'd rather you didn't mention I told you that she... y'know. And, I know this is probably obvious, but the conversation might go better if Sveta isn't around." Tyrell shrugged. "I'm heading to bed, it's been a tiring day. Good luck, whatever happens," he said as he walked away. He waved goodbye and headed toward his room.

Sveta buried her face in Matthew's arm. "Do not forget your promise, Matthew," she said sternly.

"Of course," he responded. "I still need to talk to her, but... it'll be a 'let's just be friends' kind of thing. What do you think about Belinsk? Would you like me to take you back?"

Sveta shook her head without removing it from Matthew's arm. "Not sure. Boon is wearing off again. Too tired to renew it. Will think about Belinsk in the morning. For now, go talk with Karis. Will be here when you return."

Matthew nodded. "Oh, uh... I'm not sure what to do about sleeping arrangements. Should I go see if there's another room availabl-"

Sveta pulled her face off of Matthew's arm. She then planted it directly into his chest. "Too expensive. Share."

Matthew blushed. "You're, uh... certainly straightforward when you get like this..."

"Going to bed now. Hurry back," Sveta said as she hopped back onto the sheets.

"...Will you still be clothed when I get back? Because I-"

"No promises. Hurry back."

By the time Matthew had closed the door, Sveta was already asleep.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Short chapter again tonight. I was planning to land Mia in Tuaparang tonight but I need to start heading to bed earlier anyway. Hopefully that last bit of delusional kittydog is a fair consolation prize. I love writing sick Sveta. Good thing pneumonia typically takes several weeks to recover from (even though a mercury adept would probably speed up the process significantly)!_


	22. Impermeable

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"Umm, why are we going over Gaia Falls?" Mia asked, somewhat panicked.

Felix did not move or speak. He just looked at her pointedly and rolled his eyes. A few of the other soldiers in the crew compartment snickered.

It was true. The airship was going north at full speed, and it showed no signs of slowing. The falls loomed ahead, a fine mist forming just before the endless cascade.

Sensing the ease of her companions around her, Mia sat resolute for as long as she could. But when the airship went over the edge, it suddenly dropped hard; she gave a little shriek and covered her eyes.

When she uncovered them, she was too dumbstruck to notice the laughter of the Tuaparang Warriors next to her.

It was a massive city, dotted with domes and towers. A gleaming black palace stood in the exact center, surrounded with important-looking square structures, each several stories high. The buildings got smaller and smaller the further away from the palace she looked; the entire city seemed to have been planned out from the very beginning, with the administrative structures in the middle and the residential areas further outward. Occasionally she saw a glass-roofed construct, and when she caught a glimpse of the interior she saw rows and rows of vegetation. Indoor farming.

At each edge of the city, Mia saw massive iron walls, and at first she thought they must be redundant; Tuaparang was too far away from the rest of civilization to come under threat of war.

Then her eyes were drawn to the pillars at each of the four corners of the metropolis.

"Are those... are those _propellers?_"

The walls weren't to keep people out. _They were to keep people from falling off the edge._

"Oh, close your mouth, lady, 'fore you let some flies in," the Tuaparang squad leader said with a grin. "You'll get plenty of time to check it out. His Highness won't be available for an audience 'till the morning." Letting his mirth fade, the man turned to Felix and spoke carefully. "Uh... we'll be landing in a few minutes, General. Should I get them to radio ahead for some, uh, medical assistance?"

Felix shook his head quickly. "Nope. 'M good. Thanks anyway." He was very careful to keep his eyes away from the windows.

Mia came to her senses with the realization that she could have been a little more... useful throughout the trip. "Hey, maybe I should have remembered earlier, but... perhaps I can help a bit?"

Felix nodded, stone-faced.

She reached out with her mind to get an accurate diagnosis. He would obviously be nauseous, but elevated stress and anxiety would be fixable too. Closing her eyes and opening herself up to the gush of information, she learned... nothing.

She opened her eyes. That was odd.

"Felix - uh... General... I can't read you. I'm trying, but it isn't working."

Felix showed no reaction.

Clicking her tongue, Mia decided to just give healing a try. She didn't need the full report to know Felix needed his stomach settled. She built up a flood of psynergy and let it pour out of her, hoping to wash away the imbalances that produced that queasy feeling.

And with her eyes open, she saw the faint glow from the Mage Masher as it absorbed her Ply.

She sighed, defeated. "It's no good. I can't do a thing while you've got that sword on you." She reached out to pat him on the shoulder, but thought better of it as her hand approached the blade held across his lap. She pulled back and frowned. "...Guess you'll have to wait until we land."

Felix squeezed his eyes shut very hard for a moment, then opened them without saying a word.

Mia looked back out the window, hoping to see the landing preparations in action.

* * *

Matthew stopped outside Karis's door. He paused. He took a deep breath in and let it out. He adjusted his shirt. He patted his hair. He took another deep breath and let it out.

He realized he was stalling for time to avoid having this incredibly awkward conversation. So he immediately spoke to prevent himself from bowing out.

"Karis? Karis, are you awake? I think we should probably talk."

He was simultaneously feeling very proud of himself and wishing very hard that he could smack his head against the wall without attracting attention.

After several seconds, he heard the door unlock. It opened to reveal Karis in her bedclothes, wearing a very impatient look on her face.

"What is it, Matthew? Can it not wait until morning? I'm sure you have other very interesting things to put your hands all over... oh, sorry, I meant 'do.' "

Matthew cringed. "Okay, first off, I should explain what you saw-"

"Yes. You should."

"Thank you, I will. Sveta was delirious. She thought she was dreaming when she saw me there."

Karis nodded. "So she took off all her clothes and let you put her hands all over her."

"_No._ She was hot and feverish, so she took of her robes - WHILE I LOOKED AWAY, I might add - and got back under the covers."

"Sure she did. And then... what, you were trying to push the infection out of her lungs?" Karis said with disdain. "From behind?"

Matthew growled. "No. She asked for a backrub."

"Oh! A backrub!" Karis said in mock surprise. "Of course you had to oblige her. A team isn't complete if its leader won't give all his underlings naked backrubs at a moment's notice."

"She was DYING, Karis. And again, delusional. She didn't know what she was doing." Matthew's face was beginning to redden.

"But you _did_, Matthew." Karis shook her head and put her hand on the door to close it. "For future reference, next time I'm dying, I'd prefer if you let me keep my clothes on. Just in case you were wondering."

Matthew stuck his foot out to keep the door open. "DAMMIT, Karis! This is not the time for your stubborn bullcrap!"

Karis returned a spiteful smile. "Language, Matthew! You need to watch your mouth a little more carefully." She frowned. "Especially because you've been talking so much more since your return from Morgal. What's changed? Catgirl got your tongue?"

Matthew closed his eyes and breathed slowly to calm himself. "Karis. I'm trying very hard to have a rational conversation with you. I'm apologizing for what you walked in on. I would appreciate it if you would LET me. Tyrell told me you seemed upset enough for it to be worth concern-"

Karis narrowed her eyes. "My door's been locked all afternoon and I haven't spoken to anyone, especially not Tyrell. I'm in no mood for his particular... behavior." She looked as if she wanted to say more, but she stayed quiet.

"Well, either way, I can see for myself that you need someone to talk to now," Matthew said, folding his arms. "Anything I need to know?"

Karis paused, eyes locked on his. She looked away. "Not really, no."

Matthew took a step forward. "I appreciate your help today, Karis, in retrieving Rief. More than you know. But something is eating at you and you need to let it out, if not for your sake, then for the sake of the rest of us. If we're in a dangerous situation - and need I remind you, we're traveling with the queen of a nation at war with the city we reside in - if we're in a dangerous situation I need to know everyone will be able to keep their heads."

Karis looked hurt, but Matthew continued. "I need to know I can trust every single person with us. If we're in a combat situation and you decide it isn't worth your time to help Sveta or myself at a crucial moment, that could put us all in danger. Neither of us is going to bed tonight until I think your issues have been sorted out."

Karis stood and listened as Matthew spoke, shrinking slightly with each passing word. She bit her lip with indecision. And then all at once, her expression snapped back to fury and she drew herself back up to her full height.

"So you don't trust me now? Is that it?" she said. "After all we've been through, the three of us - no, the _two_ of us - you suddenly decide that your lifelong friend isn't worth putting your hopes into?"

"Karis, that's not what this is about at all. Rief saw us too, and he didn't react. Tyrell was frustrated that he was left behind, but he wasn't this negative when we told him about the day's events." Matthew's expression softened. "You're a little bossy sometimes, Karis, but you're never spiteful. Right now? You're spiteful. And it has something to do with what you saw today. Are you going to make me guess?"

Karis said nothing. She kept her eyes on Matthew and seemed to be trying very hard not to look away.

"You're jealous. You had a thing for me and the idea that I might be with someone else sent you into a tailspin."

Karis bared her teeth. "How self-centered ARE you, Matthew? That's the first conclusion you come to? That I'm JEALOUS? You're walking on thin ice already-"

"I didn't come to the conclusion myself. TYRELL TOLD ME."

Karis stopped.

She looked at Matthew and held her enraged expression.

She held it until she could hold it no longer.

Then the tears sprang forth and she pounded the wall in frustration.

"Th-that... that gossipy... He... ugh!" She fell against the wall of her room and slumped to the floor.

Matthew took a step into her room. He crouched and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Karis, I'm sorry things had to end up like this. You're one of my closest friends. You're like a sister to me," he said with some extra emphasis.

Karis curled up into a ball and tried not to sob too loudly.

Matthew took his hand off her shoulder. He sat down next to her. Unsure of what to say, he scratched his head absent-mindedly.

"Karis... umm..." he began, "you know that I've never been all that great with, uh, people."

She looked at him out of the corner of one very moist eye, but did not respond.

"So... I'm sorry I didn't figure out how you felt ahead of time. I'm sorry you had to find out about Sveta and I in, uh, that exact way."

Karis sniffled. "...So you ARE together then? Fantastic. That makes me feel so much better," she said sarcastically.

Matthew cringed. That had kind of slipped out.

"There's no easy way to say it, Karis. I'm sorry, but I just... can we still be friends? I value you very highly. As a FRIEND. And there are plenty of other guys around, right? Like, umm... what about Tyrell?"

Karis scowled at Matthew, then turned away and continued to sob.

"Oookay, NOT Tyrell. Uh... Amiti? Or Rief?" Matthew offered.

"I don't... *sniff*... I don't need you to play matchmaker for me, Matthew," Karis said. "Just... go back with your girlfriend. Have fun. I'll sort myself out. Thanks anyway."

Matthew sighed and stood. "Karis... again, I'm sorry that I'm not great with people. If I were a little more experienced at speaking, maybe I'd have been able to cheer you up somehow. I'll leave you alone before I make things worse. But I want you to know that I still consider you and Tyrell to be my best friends on the world." He paused, thinking of more to say.

"I... I don't know. I just want you to know that you aren't alone, and if you ever have any trouble, we're both there for you, even though I can't carry a conversation and Tyrell doesn't have a sensitive bone in his body. You... uh... could've done better for friends, I guess. I..." Matthew's voice cracked. "I should really go."

He rushed out of the room before he could cause any more damage. When he was halfway down the hallway, he heard Karis's door close and lock once more.

When he reached his own room, he opened the door as quietly as he could, and when he closed it after entering, he made sure to lock it before doing anything else. Sveta was asleep under the covers, and sure enough, her robes were on the floor next to the bed.

Matthew wasn't in the mood to raise the stakes any further. He took off his shirt and laid down on top of the covers next to her. It wouldn't be a very comfortable sleep, but it was better than the alternative.

Sveta stirred softly. "Hwha? Hmm... Matthew."

He nodded. "Sorry I woke you," he said.

Sveta yawned. Then she coughed a few times and mumbled something incomprehensible into her pillow.

"What was that, Sveta? I didn't catch that," Matthew whispered.

"...Should make out..." Sveta suggested innocently.

Matthew went pale. "Uhm... not tonight. It's late and I think we should both, uh, just sleep."

Sveta nodded. " 'Kay. Gonna... *yawn* punch out... seven dragons and..." She coughed. "...some lemonade..."

She immediately began snoring lightly. Had she even been awake in the first place? Matthew wasn't sure.

He closed his eyes and eventually drifted into a restless slumber.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_UUUUGH ANGST. But there's no happy way of having a 'let's just be friends' conversation. And Socially Awkward Matthew is socially awkward. Dammit this is going to be so hard to sort out, I actually don't know what I'm going to do about Karis. Er... what are your favorite Karis ships, guys? Other than KarisxMatthew._

_I'm actually kind of happy that a bunch of negative-ish feedback came in just now. It lets me know that people are genuinely enjoying the story when they say good things, and not just giving blind praise because it seems like a nice thing to do. Alternatively it's just gotten so bad that even the blind-praise-givers can't handle it anymore, but either way, I'll take the criticisms into account._


	23. Sleight of Hand

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"Good evening, General! Glad to see you made it back safely! Might I ask who this lady is?"

After Mia and Felix had disembarked, and shortly after Felix had recovered from the flight, they were intercepted by a Tuaparang officer - he seemed to be in charge of logistics, based on the way he looked at the airships in the dock as he passed. Felix looked at Mia reassuringly and said, "This is a friend of mine, another of the Warriors of Vale. Her name is Mia. She's here as my guest. I plan to introduce her to the High Empyror tomorrow."

The officer nodded. "Excellent, sir." He scribbled in the clipboard he was holding. "Shall I have quarters set aside for her for the night, sir?"

Felix nodded. "Please do." He turned to Mia. "I guess I can take you on a tour or something until they have a place ready..."

The officer raised a hand and shook his head quickly. "No, no need to trouble yourself, sir! I'll have an escort detail ready in just a moment if she would like to explore the town!"

Mia smiled politely. "Thank you. I'd appreciate it."

The officer hurried off with a nod. As he walked away, Mia saw him tap several soldiers on the shoulders, seemingly at random. They followed him, and before long, the growing crowd turned a corner and went out of sight.

"This place is _incredible,_ Felix," Mia said. "How the heck did they build a flying city? How does it even work without psynergy?"

Felix smiled and shrugged modestly. "Back before the Golden Sun, Tuaparang was actually just a city on an island below Gaia Falls. When I arrived, the landmass was beginning to sink out of existence. The Empyror's top engineers worked day and night for years to design the hovering rig that the metropolis relies on. Those propellers you saw are used for movement, not to actually keep it airborne," he explained.

"So if the entire city can move on its own, then they could conceivably land it anywhere on the mainland?" Mia asked.

Felix nodded. "If they wanted to, yes. But they won't. Not yet, at least. The people here are very xenophobic. They don't want contact with outsiders unless the Empyror says it's a good idea. You're an exception, of course," he added with a grin.

Mia folded her arms. "The Empyror lives in that big central structure, right? The palace-looking thing?"

Felix nodded.

"And... where's Karst?" Mia asked slowly.

Felix's smile vanished. "She's in the medical building closest to the Palace. The stasis cells are several levels below the main floor, at the same depth as most of the infrastructure. I go there fairly often."

"Is that so?" she replied. "Do you plan to go tonight?"

"Visiting hours are over already," Felix said, shaking his head. "I might go tomorrow after the meeting with the Empyror, assuming nothing else comes up."

At that point, the Tuaparang officer came back in sight with 5 or 6 soldiers in step. "Well, I guess I'll be going then," Mia said. "Thanks, Felix. I'll see you in the morning."

Felix waved to her as she walked off to join her escort. He then set off toward his own sleeping quarters with nothing but high hopes for the next day.

If he had seen the nefarious grin on Mia's face, he may have thought twice.

* * *

Her not-insignificant adventuring experience gave Mia a knack for getting her bearings in a new city fairly quickly. When all was said and done, she didn't even need the full hour to be confident in her ability to navigate the streets of Tuaparang alone. Most of the areas she was interested in were off-limits, but she got a good look at the propellers, at the palace... and at the medical wing's surroundings.

By the time she was escorted to a guest room in the palace, a plan was already starting to form in her mind.

With two guards posted outside her door ("For her protection", though Mia suspected otherwise), she knew that she couldn't just walk out. But she felt that she had to find out about Karst, one way or another. If Felix visited her frequently, then she was obviously still there, and she was probably still alive... stasis could have meant all sorts of things, but if Karst wasn't decomposing, then her chances were probably pretty good.

Dropping her travel bag on her bed, she unpacked what little clothing she had brought with her. When she and Rief had gone to investigate the psy vortex near the lighthouse, they had prepared for a journey of up to two days - the lighthouse was very close by, but both of them had learned to expect the unexpected.

And these were unexpected circumstances indeed, Mia thought to herself, having finally found the item she was looking for.

It was a small card. Innocuous, but unusual. It was the size of the average playing card, but it appeared solid yellow to the casual observer.

Mia flipped it over in her hand. Now it had a cloud emblem in the center.

Now it had a sword. Now a flame. Now a thunderbolt.

Now a sheep.

Mia smiled. She knew not the origin of the Mysterious Card, but she was glad to have brought it.

Walking over to the closed door of her room, she reached out with her mind. She scanned the two men standing guard. One of them was perfectly healthy, the other would be coming down with a cold in a day or so.

Mia raised the card and focused on the sheep emblem. She poured her psynergy into it. Feeling the power building and building, she laughed to herself. Those guards wouldn't know what hit them. The energy contained within the Sleep Card released itself all at once, and the wave of power projected itself out through the door.

Mia brought her thoughts back to the guards' conditions. Within their brains, she detected an incredible surge of the chemical known as adenosine; naturally produced by the human body, it builds up slowly as the day goes on. By nighttime, its effects come to the forefront. The subject feels groggy, feels their reactions slowing, feels their eyelids drooping. A high concentration of adenosine tells the brain that it's time for bed.

The guards were not equipped to argue with their own brains. Mia giggled as she heard the two men collapsing on the floor outside. They would wake up in another 7 or 8 hours, feeling fully refreshed after a long, natural sleep... though they'd probably be a bit stiff after sleeping in their armor.

She opened the door and walked out, slipping the Mysterious Card into her robes. By the time the men woke up, her little errand would have long since been completed. She closed and locked the door behind her and set off to infiltrate Tuaparang's medical facility. It was time to get some answers.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Thanks for all the suggestions re: Karis ships, guys. I actually realized that I don't really want the story to focus on her love life at all, so if she does get together with anybody in the group (she might not!) it will be understated. All I gotta do is pull her out of the funk she's in, and I think I know how I'll do that now._


	24. Black Holes and Revelations

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Garet always liked sleeping in tents. There was something about the smell of pine, the feeling of freedom, the knowledge that you've split yourself off from the rest of the world, if only for a little while, that just warmed his heart. And so what if he had to share a tent with Ivan while Isaac got to spend the night with Jenna? It was just like old times. Sort of.

He woke up naturally with the sun, and, remembering that it was Ivan who had taken the last watch that evening, decided to enjoy the solitude for a bit. Garet was anything but philosophical, but he was still one to count his blessings. He had learned to watch his thoughts as a reflex whenever Ivan was around - mindreading had to be actively performed, but sometimes Ivan did it purely out of habit and didn't realize it was going on until it was too late. Now, Garet could think whatever thoughts he wanted to, and no one would ever care!

_Ivan's wife is a smoking hottie,_ Garet thought, _and my mustache is the greatest bit of facial hair that has ever graced this wonderful world._ He smiled, gloating over his small victory.

He felt a pang of guilt for a moment. His own wife had always mocked him for the way he treated the hair on his upper lip. She liked it, but teased him every time he stroked it in a mirror.

He should've been there for her.

_should've gone with her shouldn't have let her go alone should've kept her home should've gone in her place_

_should've been me_

Garet closed his eyes and focused on breathing exercises as he always did when his mind went down this route. His friends were all with him. He trusted them and would be eternally grateful for all they did for him back when... back in that time. When his life took a turn for the worse.

Even Mia, who didn't even live in the same country, had helped as much as she could, by taking care of Tyrell when Garet just couldn't handle it anymore. And now Tyrell was a grown man, off on his own adventure, and hopefully soon to start a family of his own.

_Life is good, _Garet thought. _It could always be better, but it could always be worse._

That was her favorite saying. And she was always right.

Garet put on his clothes for the day and opened his tent. He took a deep breath of the fresh air and stepped out.

Strapping on his gear, he took a quick look around. The campsite was on the outskirts of some woods. In the east was Venus Lighthouse, and below it was the rising sun. Angara was still visible to the far north, if one looked very hard. There were a handful of birds in the clear blue sky, and from the sound of it, there may have been a stream nearby.

Something seemed off. Garet put a hand on his chin (stroking his mustache with one finger) and gave it some thought. Nothing was missing from the campsite. He looked down quickly. Nope, still wearing pants. He shrugged at no one in particular. Whatever, it would come to him.

After a quick stretch, he noticed Ivan sitting against a tree some distance away. Garet jogged over. Ivan's eyes were closed and he was snoring lightly. Garet laughed and rapped him on the head.

"You call that keeping watch?" Garet said with a grin. "I sure am glad you were keeping us safe from the monsters inside of your eyelids!"

Ivan rubbed his eyes and gave an embarrassed smile. "Sorry... I guess I just dozed off. We're still safe, though. It's not like there's anything out here that's remotely threatening." He stood up straight and scratched his chest. "These watches are more of a traditional thing than anything else, anyway. I don't think Djinn need to sleep. If we tried, we could probably get a few of them to keep watch for us."

"Huh. I never thought of that," Garet said. "This would've been a nice thing to bring up 30-some years ago. But whatever, we can look into it later."

"Yeah, I guess we... hey, what?" Ivan said, stopping himself. He looked into the sun, squinting tightly.

Garet cocked his head. "What? What is it?"

Ivan pointed to the east. "Look over there. What do you see?"

Garet shrugged. "The lighthouse. And, uh, the sun."

"No, no, no," Ivan said as he shook his head. "What DON'T you see?"

Garet paused and thought for a minute. "Uhm... the air? I don't know, Ivan, if this is some stupid riddle-"

"The vortex, Garet!" Ivan shouted. "It's gone!"

* * *

Felix saluted the guards as he walked to Mia's door. She had sent him a message saying that she wished to speak with him alone before they met with the Empyror, and he was happy to oblige. He was well-rested, and he had even decided to shave; the scruffy warrior look had been more of a disguise than anything else. Now Mia knew his true identity, and he had lost the fake eyepatch after jumping out of the airship anyway, so the disguise could no longer be complete.

It was probably a crappy disguise anyway. Felix had always had bad luck concealing his identity.

Today, as he knocked on the door to Mia's chambers, he felt he could finally be himself, though. He had nothing to hide anymore. Mia knew his history, and while she obviously didn't approve of his recent career change, she still seemed to trust him to make the right decisions when it came down to it. And Felix felt that being a Tuaparang General WAS the right decision. He didn't love some of the things he had to do as part of the job, but he knew that it was for the good of the world. And every time the Empyror came to mind, his heart simply burned with motivation to do better than he ever had before. There was no other way to describe it.

"Mia? I got your message. Are you awake?"

The door opened. "Oh! Felix!" Mia gave a surprised greeting. "And hello, Felix's chin! It has been oh so long. Come inside, come inside!"

Felix nodded and entered. As the door closed, he thought he heard a noise coming from one of the guards outside. A snore? No, that would be ridiculous.

"So, you wanted to see me?" he asked, getting straight down to business.

Mia nodded, her face neutral. "That's right. So... you wanted me to meet the Empyror today, right?"

Felix grinned, his heart aflame with pride. "That's right. He'll want to know about the results of my mission. And he'll want to meet you, of course. He's very interested in the story of the Warriors of Vale. After all, we're probably responsible for his rise to power, in some way."

"With the Golden Sun, you mean?" Mia asked, biting her lower lip. "You said that his psynergy helped with his meteoric rise in position. In what way?"

Felix shrugged. "He probably impressed people with his ability to light candles with his mind. What I know for sure is that it's done great things for Tuaparang science." He gestured to his sword. "The nation had little knowledge of psynergy at all without adepts to test it. Now look how far they've come!"

Mia nodded, but her expression didn't match Felix's enthusiasm. "Felix... I know that you trust the Empyror. You certainly seem to think the world of him. But I don't trust him at all. I can't."

Felix laughed. "You'll change your mind when you meet him today. I just know it."

Mia shook her head. "I'm not talking about the Eclipse anymore. Felix, I went to see Karst last night."

"You did? How?" Felix asked. "I didn't think they'd let a guest into a secure area like that, especially after hours."

"This helped," Mia said, raising the Mysterious Card. "I'm glad I kept it around all these years. Yes, I know, breaking into a medical facility is a little dishonest, but I think the ends justified the means in this case."

Felix narrowed his eyes. "What did you find?"

"Karst is fine, Felix," Mia said. "Well, as fine as she ever was. She has a fracture in her lower spine, and I don't have anything that can deal with that. She has little brain activity and she has the lowest heartrate I've ever seen in a living human, but I think that's related to the stasis cell. Other than that? Nothing."

Mia took a step toward Felix in emphasis. "She has nothing wrong with her. You could wake her up TODAY and she'd live. You said that there was a mistake, right? That they had to preserve her until a cure can be found?"

Felix nodded.

"Either they've cured her already," Mia said sternly, "or there was never anything wrong with her in the first place."

There was a long silence.

"I..." Felix tried to speak, but couldn't find the words.

"While I was there, I tried to find some records of what they had done with her, just in case I was wrong," Mia continued. "There was nothing. I couldn't even tell if they had tried to work with her in the first place. I spent a bit of psynergy trying to see what I could do for her, to see if maybe her heart rate was the problem in the first place. It's natural, as far as I can tell."

"...Maybe it's alright," Felix said. "Maybe when we meet with him today, the Empyror will tell me about how... how they fixed her while I was gone. Yes, that has to be it. Or maybe she got better on her own, and I should tell him that she should be set free-"

"Felix," Mia interrupted. "I know you want to believe everything he told you has been true-"

"NO." Felix took a deep breath and regained his composure after the sudden outburst. "No. I... no. We'll see. I... I don't know. Come with me tomorrow, I guess, when I visit her. You can tell me what you know."

Mia looked away. "Perhaps. But Felix... I need you to do one thing for me. Give me a chance to prove I'm right." She turned back toward him and locked eyes with him. "There's something wrong with you, with everything happening here, and I'm doing my very best to set you free from it all. I'm certain that putting Karst in stasis has something to do with the control they have over you. "

Felix put a hand on the wall to steady himself. This was a lot to absorb at once. Mia's words rang true, but the moment they entered his mind, his steadfast loyalty flared up and reminded him that the Empyror would never betray him. There had to be some answer, if Felix would just look and find it for himself.

Mia folded her hands behind her back. "I'm sorry about this. I know it must be causing you a lot of stress. But... don't mention Karst today when we meet the Empyror. If you're right about him, then sure, he'll tell you all about her miraculous recovery. But I suspect that she's been in working condition for quite some time now, if she was ever ill in the first place. If Karst doesn't come up in today's conversation, then... then at least give me a chance."

Felix closed his eyes firmly. His head burned. All at once, he brought himself up to his full height and put his hands on his hips. "Of course. I'll certainly give you a chance if it comes to that. It won't. But if it does, I know where to find you."

Mia frowned. "I don't know what to tell you, Felix. But for your sake, I hope this Empyror is really as kind as you make him out to be. The alternative is almost to horrible to believe."

"Then let's not believe it!" Felix said happily. "Come on, you can reserve judgment for later. If you haven't had breakfast yet, I'll take you to the mess hall. After that, we should go straight to the throne room."

"The sooner this is sorted out, the better," Mia agreed. "I'm dressed and ready to go when you are."

Felix nodded and went to the door. Before grabbing the handle, he paused. "Mia... are the guards asleep?"

She gave a weak laugh through her forlorn expression. "For what it's worth, they are impressively dedicated. Standing at attention while unconscious? Now that takes gusto."

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Planning for a dramatic plot reveal on Friday (or Thursday night, more likely). I know I said I wouldn't talk about that sort of thing, but... yeah. BE READY. GO IN EXPECTING A BIG PLOT REVEAL. (Because it'll be funnier that way when it turns out to be an April Fool's prank.)_


	25. APRIL FOOL: Prodigal Sons

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

**THIS IS AN APRIL FOOLS CHAPTER, FOR THOSE WHO READ THIS IN AN ARCHIVE.**

**NO, I DID NOT SUDDENLY START CARING ABOUT MPREG.**

* * *

Sveta woke first.

She took a deep breath as she woke, and coughed slightly. She was feeling much better. Still not perfect, but at least she wasn't delirious anymore.

She looked to her right, and saw Matthew sleeping there next to her. He was on top of the covers, which she understood (she had apparently removed her clothes again while in a daze), and he was also shirtless, which she was more than fine with. Moving slowly, careful not to wake him, she retrieved the robes from the day before, put them on, and got back into bed. She snuggled up next to her boyfriend and hugged him tightly.

Matthew began to stir. When he opened his eyes, she was staring back into them. "Good morning," she said, before kissing him on the forehead.

Matthew smiled. " 'Morning," he said. He wrapped an arm around Sveta and stroked her shoulder lightly.

Sveta nestled in with him. The sun was shining, she was nearly healthy again, and the future was looking bright. Nothing could possibly ruin this moment.

Matthew suddenly became tense.

"Hmm? What is wrong?" Sveta asked, sensing the disturbance.

Matthew sat upright and looked at her with an expression of confusion. He stared at her face, then looked down at her stomach.

"Something doesn't make sense," he said. Then, all at once, his eyes widened. His face flew through several different emotions, his mind obviously racing.

"...Matthew?" Sveta asked, the worry apparent in her voice.

"Sveta..." he said, his eyes full of a mix of confusion, sadness, and a little bit of disbelief. "You're _pregnant._"

Sveta's heart stopped for a moment.

"But... how? We did not... Matthew, what is going on?"

Matthew shook his head slowly. "I don't know. Maybe that thing at Apollo Sanctum... I'm not sure. But you have two lifeforces inside of you. One of them isn't yours. That is something I know for certain."

Sveta felt as if her heart was tearing itself in half. "But I... I am not ready to become a mother, and we... Matthew, I am scared. What do we do?"

"I don't know, Sveta. I just don't know. For now we have to-"

The door burst open.

"Gooood morning you two," Karis said with a wicked smile on your face. "How are things? Gosh, you two look miserable. Too bad I was just around outside to overhear your conversation!"

Matthew looked at Karis's face, then down at her stomach. His mouth opened slightly, but he didn't say anything.

"Oh? What's that, Matthew? Notice something different about me?" Karis asked in a mocking tone.

All at once, his eyes widened. His face flew through several different emotions, his mind obviously racing.

"Karis..." he said, his eyes full of a mix of confusion, sadness, and a little bit of disbelief. "You're _pregnant._"

Sveta's heart stopped once again.

"...WHAT?" she shouted.

Karis laughed. "It's true! It's yours, Matthew. What, you thought you went back to your room peacefully last night? Heck no. I just wiped your memory with my mind powers or something. Jupiter Adepts can probably do that."

Tears sprang to Sveta's eyes. "Matthew, how COULD you? We... I... and we were going to have to..." She couldn't form a coherent sentence, such was her angst and woe.

Rief stepped into the room. "What's all the commotion? I could hear you three from outside. It certainly sounds like there's an angst-party going on in here."

Karis grinned at Rief. "Oh, Sveta's pregnant, and so am I. Matthew's the father both times."

Rief stared blankly at Karis. "...No kidding?" he said slowly.

All at once, Matthew's eyes widened. His face flew through several different emotions, hsi mind obviously racing.

"Rief..." he said, his eyes full of a mix of confusion, sadness, and a hefty dose of disbelief. "You're _pregnant._"

Sveta's ears drooped. "I am not even going to ask."

Rief blushed and scratched his head. "Yep! Turns out I was a girl all along!" He - she - smiled bashfully. "You were unconscious at some point after Apollo Sanctum, and I had you all to myself. I just couldn't resist."

Sveta planted a paw directly onto her face. "This is not happening," she whispered. Her tone was more what one would expect from an impatient sibling than from a girl who found out that she was one of three women recently impregnated by her boyfriend.

Matthew shrugged. "Probably not," he said, nonplussed.

Tyrell's spiky hair was the next thing to enter the room, followed shortly by the rest of him. "Hello, all. What's going on? Some crazy revelations?"

Sveta threw her hands into the air. "We are all pregnant, apparently. Matthew is the father."

Tyrell folded his arms for a moment, staring at Matthew. His face was neutral. After several seconds, he extended one arm and pointed a thumb directly upward.

"Job well done," he said reverently.

All at once, Matthew's eyes widened. His face flew through several different emotions, his mind obviously racing.

"Tyrell..." he said, his eyes full of a mix of confusion, sadness, and a little bit of disbelief. "You're..."

Sveta jumped out of bed and stormed out of the room. "Oh, FUCK ALL OF THIS."

"You're... an asshole!" Matthew finished.

Tyrell shrugged, an impish expression plainly visible. "Guilty as charged!" he said with a laugh.

"Also, I'm pregnant," Matthew said.

* * *

Sveta walked out of the inn, her head uncovered and her beastial features plain for the world to see, but she no longer cared. At some point between the fantastic wakeup and the mind-numbing revelations, her ability to give a damn had rolled over and died. Not that it really mattered - the people of Bilibin were all wrapped up in their own conversations.

Kicking a rock in frustration, Sveta decided she had had enough. She entered her beastform and made a beeline for the nearest forest. It was time to start over anew, and make her new life among the woodland critters. She would live happily ever after with a delicious diet of nuts and berries, and she would teach her hybrid offspring to hate all of humanity as much as she did.

In the wake of her passing, a couple could be heard speaking outside the Royal Reststop Inn.

"I hear Darla's pregnant!"

"Is that so? Another pregnancy! And so soon!"

"Well, I heard it's not just the women getting pregnant! It's men too!"

"What dastardly villain could be causing all of this? What villain INDEED?"

No one in Bilibin had any idea.

* * *

On a remote mountaintop conveniently located near Bilibin City, a figure shrouded in blue fondly regarded the fruits of his labors. Soon, everyone would be pregnant. Everyone.

And it was all proceeding just as he had planned.

Alex stretched his arms out to the sky and let out a laugh from deep inside. It was a laugh of insanity, of mania, of victory. It echoed throughout the land, sending chills down the spines of whoever heard it.

When he had had his fill of laughing evilly, he let his arms fall again. He walked down the side of the mountain, having accomplished the deed he set out to perform - that is, laughing evilly on the top of a mountain.

It was time for breakfast anyway. He rubbed his belly thoughtfully. Before long, his would not be the only mouth to feed.

He felt a light kick, and his heart leapt.

* * *

_ATUHORS NOSE:_

_happy april first everybody_


	26. Back to Reality

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Sveta woke with a start. She gasped as she sat straight up in bed. The gasp set off another chain of coughs, which left her throat burning and her lungs heaving. Her eyes watered from the pain. She willed herself to calm down, to breathe slowly and carefully, and to realize that it had all just been a dream.

She laid back down and let the nightmare erase itself from her mind. Only then did she notice Matthew sleeping on top of the covers nearby. She frowned, vaguely remembering the night before, and how she had made an idiot of herself – AGAIN – in her delirium. She wished that she and Matthew could have gotten together on their own terms, rather than having to deal with her stupid fever. Being that sick made it difficult to suppress her own instincts, and she was quite sure that if she had her mind to herself, they wouldn't be sharing a room already.

Not that she didn't enjoy seeing him lying shirtless next to her, but it felt like their relationship was moving a little too quickly.

She put the back of her hand on her forehead. It was still burning hot. Her mind was still foggy. She still felt weak in her limbs. But at least she wouldn't have to struggle against the more feral side of herself anymore.

Making sure that Matthew was still asleep, she carefully slipped out of bed to get dressed. Once that was finished, she opened the blinds. It was early morning and the sun was peeking over the horizon. The hustle and bustle of the city was just beginning to get going, and Sveta could smell breakfast being cooked in several places nearby. Her stomach growled. It had been quite some time since she last ate.

Matthew stirred as the sunlight hit him. "Oh, good morning," he said when he saw her standing by the window. "Feeling better?"

Sveta nodded. "Much better, yes. I am very, very sorry, by the way, about all of the fever-dream incidents." She went back to her side of the bed and sat down. "You have been very patient. I appreciate it."

Matthew simply nodded. "It's no big deal," he said.

She shook her head. "It is. It absolutely is. Had you not been there for me, I would be dead. And I cannot imagine that Karis has been taking it well. How did it go last night?"

Matthew's expression fell. He said nothing.

"I was worried about that," Sveta said. "I am sorry. It was entirely my fault. Do you think that your friendship can be recovered?"

Matthew shrugged. "I think that I may have made it worse last night, if anything. Karis is a good girl, and I trust her, but she was really down and... well, I screwed up. She knows I just want to be friends, but she still seemed pretty crushed."

Sveta frowned. "I did not mean to force a wedge between you two."

"Don't worry, I'm sure it isn't permanent. We have more pressing matters to worry about anyway, don't we? Have you made a decision regarding Belinsk?"

She took several steps back to her own side of the bed and sat down. She pondered silently for a moment. "I feel that while we are here, we should aim for a diplomatic solution, and that means going directly to the palace. If that falls through, we can catch up to the Bilibin army along the way and see what havoc we can wreak."

Matthew smiled. "Straight and to the point. I like it. How do you plan to reach the palace undetected, though?"

A vicious grin came to Sveta's face. "I do not."

She stood and walked over to her traveling bag. Inside were her royal gown and whatever other supplies she had managed to pack while at Rief's house. "I will not be very effective if hostilities arise, but what better way to seize the element of surprise than for the Queen herself to appear at McCoy's doorstep in broad daylight?"

Matthew smiled broadly. "Sounds good. We still need to deal with Kraden, though. It would be terrible of us to just leave him behind. I think we should send Tyrell and Karis to find him; I'd rather have a proficient healer around if we encounter the worst-case scenario."

Nodding in agreement, Sveta unfolded her gown from her traveling gear. It was wrinkled, but it would have to do. The insulated Mercury outfit was beginning to overstay its welcome anyway.

Matthew put his shirt back on and hopped out of bed. "I'm going to grab some breakfast. I'll bring some back for you, too. I'll fill in the others if I see them along the way."

"That sounds magnificent, thank you. We should leave as soon as possible. I would appreciate if we could wait until Rief has given me assistance with my pneumonia, but I feel that we must leave soon after."

Matthew winked. "I'll be back soon, then." He started toward the door.

Sveta smiled softly. "I will see you then... umm, sunshine."

Matthew did a double-take. "Uh... 'sunshine'?"

"I was just trying it out," Sveta admitted with a blush. "Is it too weird? Should I not bother?"

"Oh, it'll take some getting used to, but I have no objection to pet names!" Matthew said with a laugh. "See you later, kittydog."

"K-kittydog? Wait, Matthew...!" Sveta shouted in futility as the door closed behind him. She sighed. He was teasing her, obviously. But she would have to wait until his return to properly reprimand him.

She locked the door and began to change.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_It is a sad, sad irony that I apparently received more traffic on my crappy MPreg joke chapter than I have anywhere else in the story. If you read that one first, I am so, so sorry._

_Honestly though, what surprises me more is how many people read through Karis raping Matthew with her mind, Rief being a girl (who ALSO raped Matthew at some point), Matthew himself being pregnant, and Sveta running off to live in the woods, and then STILL needed the disclaimer in the a/n to realize that it was a joke chapter. I obviously don't write convincingly enough for people to find error in that. *hangs head in shame*_


	27. Change of Hearts

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"So, any thoughts on what we might find, Ivan?"

As the four marched toward Venus Lighthouse, Isaac finally had the opportunity to ask the question that had been burning in his mind ever since Garet woke him to tell him about the missing vortex.

They had eaten a quick breakfast, during which time they had agreed that further investigation was in order. A vortex that size was nearly unprecedented – only the one above Mt Aleph, and indeed, both Mourning Moons, had been bigger – and for it to simply vanish in the time it took for Ivan to nod off made no sense.

Ivan was, frankly, a little over-apologetic about his morning catnap. It admittedly was unlike him to let his guard down that way, but no harm had been done. The problem was that no one was sure how much time had passed between his falling asleep and when Garet roused him. The gang was now headed toward the lighthouse itself to investigate.

Ivan shrugged. "Well, Isaac... I don't know. This is kind of new to me. Going over the facts, here's what we know: The vortex was probably natural. A lighthouse is absolutely a high-enough-energy location for them to form. Also, the vortex may have been a threat to the lighthouse's functionality. That's why we came down here. As we can see," he said, gesturing to the yellow orb floating undaunted above the pinnacle, "that was apparently not the case."

Jenna interrupted. "But would it have? I mean, we still don't know WHY it's gone. Did somebody get rid of it on their own? Or was it a natural thing?"

Ivan shrugged. "I don't know. I'm leaning toward natural for now, admittedly... I mean, lighthouses are basically the perfect breeding ground for a vortex, and if they shut down every time one popped up, why would any of them still be working?" His eyes widened, and he slapped himself on the head very hard. "Ugh, of COURSE! It's so obvious!"

Garet gave Ivan a sidelong glance. "Well... not to ALL of us... care to lay it out a little bit?"

Ivan gave a nervous laugh. "Sorry. Right. Well, we've seen vortexes disappear before, right? What if they vanish once they've absorbed enough energy? If, like Kraden and I think, they're sort of emergency stoppers for the world, it makes sense that they'd give up the goat once they've completed their function. Really, this probably wasn't a serious concern in the first place. Again, sorry for bringing you guys along."

Isaac smiled. "Well, if you're right, then I'm okay with that. The more we know about these things, the better. And if you're wrong, then, well, now we're here to deal with it anyway."

Jenna slowed for a moment, raising a hand to her eyes to shield them from the sun. "Guys... I think we may just have something to deal with." She pointed to the foot of the lighthouse. "Look."

There was a large metal _thing_, about the size of a building, sitting in front of the lighthouse entry. It was topped with a pair of strange protrusions that looked like someone had started making an umbrella and given up halfway. The protrusions were rotating very slowly, but their speed seemed to be increasing. And there were two or three humanoid figures visible next to it.

"I guess the 'artificial' theory has some merit, too," Ivan conceded.

* * *

Felix and Mia, having finally reached the top floor of the Empyror's palace, stopped at the staircase so Mia could be checked for weapons. The guards ignored Felix, knowing him to be friendly, but his word wasn't trusted enough to allow her inside without being searched.

She wasn't carrying weapons, but they both knew that that obviously wouldn't stop her if she wanted to do some damage.

Standing outside of a massive pair of gleaming black double-doors, Felix turned to her. "First things first: you should know that I trust you, but I don't know how things are going to go in here. If he makes a move against you, I'll try to defend you. If you make a move against him, I'll defend HIM. So don't start anything."

Mia gave a vexatious smile. "Start something? Me? That's just silly."

Felix sighed. "Aside from that, keep in mind that he's the leader of the flying city you're currently standing on. Standard rules for addressing royalty apply here. He's 'Your Highness,' or 'my Lord,' and you don't speak to him without first being spoken to. Please, PLEASE try to avoid pissing him off."

With that part of his speech done with, his spirits visibly improved. He stood up straighter. "Other than that, I can't think of any advice. I have confidence that you'll come out of this with a higher opinion of him than right now, and I think he'll like you too. Anything else I should know before we go in?"

Mia nodded and leaned in a little. "Don't mention Karst, right?" she whispered. "Just part of the test."

Felix nodded. "...Right. The test. We'll see about that."

And he pushed the doors open.

* * *

A monarch's throne room is a lot like the inside of a woman's purse in that you can tell a lot about the owner from its contents.

The top floor of the Tuaparang Palace, for example, was mostly throne room. A big, open space that could have been filled with all sorts of regalia, some banners, some trophies... whatever. But aside from supporting pillars, artificial lights and functional windows, it was empty.

Empty, of course, aside from the throne itself. And the doorway to the Empyror's quarters, sitting quietly behind the throne.

It was an attention-grabbing piece, the throne; whether the Empyror had had it commissioned, or whether it was a labor of love by an adoring subject, none could tell at a glance. But it was tall, and it was wide, and it was the same gleaming black that so characterized the nation. The seat had a white stripe running from the seat to midway up – slightly above the head if a tall person were to sit in it – that performed the function of drawing the eye to the man who held the seat of honor.

The man who sat in it, of course, did not sit for very long. The moment the doors opened, a wide grin reached his face and he leapt from his seat.

"Felix, my good man! I had heard that you brought a visitor! Is this she?" he asked.

Felix smiled and nodded. "It is good to see that you are well, my Lord. This is Mia, another of the Warriors of Vale. I'm sure you understand that our nation does not have the best reputation among the rest of the world, but she was eager to meet you to decide for herself."

The Empyror was slightly above-average in height, and rather slim. His bald head was adorned with a pair of large horns that framed his face, and a neat black goatee surrounded his mouth. His black robes, with their loose sleeves, looked more at home on an evil warlock or mustache-twirling villain than the affable man in front of them.

"She wanted to decide for herself?" The Empyror said with a grin. "Well, I hope that I meet her expectations! Come on in, make yourselves comfortable. Felix, go ahead and set that sword aside, I'm sure a few minutes will be fine. That can't be enjoyable to carry all day, every day.

Felix looked at Mia with unease. "If it pleases you, Lord, I think I'll keep it with me. You're right, it isn't exactly fun to have this particular weapon at my side, but... as much as I trust my friend, she IS one of the strongest adepts on the face of the planet. As your retainer, it would be irresponsible of me to set aside what may be the only effective defence in a worst-case scenario."

The Empyror's smile faltered for just a moment before he regained his composure. "Surely you do not EXPECT her to initiate hostilities?"

Mia gave Felix a look of disdain before turning back to the Empyror. "Not unless you give me a reason, Your Highness," she said with a bit of snark.

"Ha ha! Of course not. Felix, do as you wish. Mia, it is good to meet you!" The Empyror was all smiles once more. "I hope your time among my people has been pleasant?"

Mia folded her arms. "Well, up here, yes. This city is truly incredible. But that's part of what I wanted to talk to you about. You see, while my firsthand experiences with Tuaparang and its people have been top-notch, I have heard some... unpleasantness."

The Empyror's face took on a more solemn look. "Of course. It is the nature of our people to split ourselves off from outsiders. Rumors spread, gossip corrodes our image. I assure you that most of what you have heard is untrue."

"What about specifics?" Mia said as she cocked her head. "I heard something interesting from my son, Rief. Do you know anything about the Grav-"

"Felix," The Empyror interrupted, raising a hand for silence. "This reminds me. I have some grave news. You may be wondering why I have been calling you by your birth name, and not the one I gave you."

Felix had been glancing nervously at Mia for the duration of the meeting, but when the Empyror addressed him, Felix encountered a bit of tunnel vision. His heart fluttered with anticipation. "News, my Lord? If it is what I think it is-"

The Empyror's gaze fell dramatically. "Blados has fallen in combat. I know you two were close friends, and it must break your heart to know. But the four are now only three. Your names as generals were a symbol of your unity, and that unity is now shattered. You may call yourselves whatever you wish."

Felix began to speak, but stopped himself. Not the news he was hoping for. But there was a kernel of new information there. He cleared his throat. "Blados has fallen? That is unfortunate, truly. But was Chalis not with him? Does that mean she survived whatever claimed her partner's life?"

The Empyror grinned. "Truly, fate has smiled on me, for my sister has recovered from her injuries. I believe she will be joining us shortly, in fact."

"That is outstanding news, Lord," Felix said. And he meant it, in more ways than one. He gave a short laugh. "Does that mean that I'll finally learn her real name, then?"

The Empyror smiled. "Her name is no secret. It is-"

"Chalis will do for now."

A lone figure entered the room behind Felix and Mia. Walking briskly past, she paused imperceptibly as she looked on Mia's face, and something flashed in her eyes – recognition? – before she continued to take her place next to the Empyror.

"No need to get too friendly now, is there?" Chalis said slowly.

"Sister! Your timing is impeccable," the Empyror said as he spread his arms to embrace her. "This is Felix's friend, Mia. This is your first meeting, correct?"

"We have never spoken, no," Chalis replied. "Have I missed anything important?"

The Empyror shook his head. "I simply informed Felix of Blados' passing. Dreadful news, but we will have to do without him."

"Subtle as a brick to the face, he was, but he was an outstanding swordsman. Replacing him will be difficult," Chalis agreed.

"Hold on," Mia said suddenly.

She took a step forward as Felix's head turned to her in alarm. "Mia, wait-"

"You never did answer my question, Your Highness. The Grave Eclipse, what do you know about it?"

The Empyror's smile showed fewer teeth than it had several seconds earlier. "The Grave Eclipse? I have heard reports of it, of course, but that sort of thing didn't affect us this far north-"

"That's not what I mean," Mia said with a shake of her head. "Chalis is a familiar name to me. So, Miss Chalis, must my son's name be to you. His name's Rief. I believe you two have met?"

Chalis scowled. "...Our paths have crossed," she said slowly.

Mia took another step forward. Felix put a hand on his sword.

"Crossed would be putting it mildly, wouldn't it? I prefer not to speak ill of the dead, but the late Blados abducted him, didn't he?" Mia said, her speech gearing up as her emotions plainly did.

"...That's correct," Chalis said. Her fangs were prominent as she bared her teeth.

"So if you have no evidence to prove otherwise, I suppose the rest of my son's story must be true," Mia said, balling her hands into fists. "You two were responsible for most of the ordeals eastern Angara underwent. Including, I might add, the horde of shadow creatures that _killed thousands of people_."

Felix drew his blade. "Mia, watch yourself," he warned.

"Watch _nothing!_" she replied sharply. "You can smile and nod all you want, Your Highness," she said mockingly, "but you are to be held responsible for the actions of your underlings. I have no reason to believe that those missions were undertaken independently, either."

The Empyror simply smiled.

"You're right, of course. I did assign them that mission," he said.

He took a step forward. His fingers flexed at his sides.

"Brother, be careful-" Chalis hissed at his side.

"The mission was of great importance to the nation I rule. My people come first. What happens to the foreign folk is of secondary importance. And anyway, the Grave Eclipse may have caused some grief, but in the end, all will be well."

"Brother!" Chalis said louder. "Careful, she's-"

"And if you'll give me a chance to explain..." the Empyror said, his voice building to a crescendo, "I think you'll find me entirely in the right."

Felix's blade glowed brightly for a split second.

There was silence in the room.

And then the silence was broken by a horrifying laugh.

Mia fell to her knees. She clutched her stomach as mirth split her face into a radiant grin.

Chalis winced. The Empyror simply stared, nonplussed.

Felix put his sword away and reached a hand out toward his friend. "Mia-"

"FELIX! You were right all along!" she shouted. "I'm so, so, SO sorry, Your Highness!"

She laughed for several seconds more. She removed her hands from her stomach and stretched them out on the floor in front of her. "I'm sure you're in the right. Why would I ever have doubted you?"

In any other circumstance, these words might have been expected from Mia, with her sarcastic streak.

In any other circumstance, she would not have been sincere.

But Felix realized, as a wave of revulsion washed over him, that every word she had spoken was sincere.

"Mia, what are you...?" Felix began, but he trailed off.

Mia sat up. "Oh, dear, I'm so underdressed!" she said as she wiped off her robes. "I'm so sorry, I came in here wanting to deliver a rant, and... and I should've gotten something fancier to wear! My wardrobe's a little limited, you see, a healer from Imil doesn't have many occasions to dress up, and... oh my, I'm rambling," she said with a blush.

The Empyror looked at his sister. She looked back at him. Neither spoke, but the Empyror was obviously asking for an explanation with his eyes.

Mia looked at Felix. "You were right all along. He's such a great guy! I don't know why I ever doubted you." She looked at the Empyror with eyes full of adoration. "You know I doubted him? I don't know why I did. It was terrible of me. I'm sorry. You're great."

Felix tried, unsuccessfully, to keep his face neutral. He walked over to where Mia lay prostrate and tried to help her up. "Mia, you should stand. Really."

She looked at him disdainfully. "No, Felix YOU should be bowing! Look, you're in the presence of the royal family! We aren't worthy. Neither of us are."

The Empyror cleared his throat. "Umm. It's quite fine to stand. Really. I'd prefer if you did. I'm not used to people bowing for me, it isn't really that formal around here."

Mia stood as fast as she could and brushed a few bits of dirt off her legs. "Sorry, sorry. I didn't mean... oh, I feel like I should just make it up to you, in, umm, some way." She blushed and fidgeted with her sleeves. "Is there... is there anything I could do for you?"

The Empyror shifted his weight uneasily from one leg to the other, and back again. "That really won't be necessary. Uh... why don't we reschedule this meeting for another time? I, uh, just remembered I have something to do."

Mia nodded. "Oh, of course, of course! I just... if you need me, you know where to find me, and... oh dear, I'll just be going!" She pivoted quickly on one foot and quickly walked out of the room. "Felix, what are you waiting for? _We were dismissed!_" she hissed.

Felix took one last look at Chalis and the Empyror, and then followed after her.

"It was nice meeting you, Your Highness!" Mia called as she left the throne room behind her. "Umm, call me!"

Felix closed the doors behind him. He did not say a word.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNN_

_This last section will answer a LOT of questions that have been raised, especially if you read between the lines a little bit. Next chapter should lay it out a bit more explicitly, but this is the culmination of a lot of the hints I've been dropping throughout the story._

_We aren't quite in the final stretch yet, but we're definitely beyond the halfway point now._


	28. Panic Switch

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Hurrying down the long staircase after Mia, Felix allowed his thoughts to follow their natural path as he tried to form a coherent idea of what the hell just happened.

Fact: Felix's sword was glowing for a moment. That meant someone used psynergy, probably either on Felix or at a location near him.

Fact: Mia began a (hopefully) temporary descent into madness at the exact same time.

Fact: The Empyror was a powerful Mars Adept. Mars psynergy encompassed both fire and emotion. Skilled flame adepts can learn to manipulate both.

Felix clenched his fists. The Empyror had used psynergy and tried to manipulate both his and Mia's emotions. And apparently, he had succeeded brilliantly with Mia.

"Okay, I'm going to stop in my room for a bit, but then I'm going shopping. I need a new outfit," she called up at him from several steps below.

"What for?" Felix asked.

Mia shrugged. "Well, y'know... I feel so out-of-place with this white-and-blue dress, surrounded by black and, uh, black. Need to absorb the culture, right?"

Felix sighed. She hadn't been concerned about the 'culture' at all before the meeting. She probably just wanted to impress His Highness at whatever time they reconvened. Felix fought back a wave of unwilling adoration at the thought of the Empyror's name. Had he really been that obsessed? Had he been conditioned so thoroughly as the Empyror's lapdog that he felt elation just by thinking about him? How had he missed that?

With a rush of insight, he realized that his conversion hadn't been this sudden. Mia's case was unusual. And why? _Because she was a Mercury Adept._ Hell, the Empyror had never left the city. It was possible that he didn't even know about elemental affinities. Chalis HAD tried to warn him of something before he cast his spell.

Connections spread out like a spiderweb from his mind. Mia was an accident on the Empyror's part, and they all knew it. Best case scenario, His Highness would try to clear everything up or regain Felix's trust at the next meeting. Worst case, he'd have them all killed before the meeting even took place. Felix wasn't willing to take that risk. His loyalty to Tuaparang, to the Empyror, was gone... his natural loyalty, that is. He took several steady breaths and tried to maintain his anger. He wouldn't let himself slip into complacency again.

Step one. Go get Karst. She would still be in stasis, and if Mia was right, she'd be unharmed – probably ready to leave immediately. _Of course!_ Felix thought. _She'd been placed in stasis because the Empyror couldn't control her. She's a Mars Adept!_ Damn him, using them both like that. Karst's legs would still be out of commission, of course. Felix would carry her. That would be no trouble.

Step two. Get Mia. That would be harder, and she probably wouldn't come willingly. But Felix wouldn't kill her. In fact, it would probably be better to keep Karst out of the area at first, because she WOULD kill Mia. How could that be done? Pfeh. He'd sort that out later.

Step three. Secure an escape route. How do you run from a flying city? Simple... you take an airship. Felix's stomach churned. He knew how to fly one of them, but he absolutely was not looking forward to it.

They reached the floor where Mia was staying. "Honestly, Felix, I'm surprised that you aren't gloating more. You turned out to be right, remember?" she said. Her eyes seemed to focus on something far in the distance. A delicate smile came to her face. "So very, very right."

Felix shook his head. "Sorry, I've got a lot on my mind. There's, uh..." He paused for a moment, thinking as quickly as he could. "There's a rebel faction in the Tuaparang army. Some dissenters, I guess. I worry that they might, uh, try to go after targets of opportunity, like you. So watch yourself. I have something I have to take care of, but I'll be back for you shortly."

Terror flashed across Mia's face. "Dissenters? People who want to depose His Highness?" Then at once, her fear was replaced by dark anticipation. "Oh, I know just how to deal with them."

Felix cleared his throat loudly. "Now, uh, keep it quiet. We don't want them to know we're onto them. Just make sure you're able to defend yourself. If any Tuaparang soldiers make a move to hurt you, you know what to do."

Mia let out a cheerful laugh as she began the walk to her quarters. "Oh, I do, Felix. Take your time, I'm not going anywhere."

Felix nodded uneasily. He dashed down several more flights of stairs and began heading toward the medical wing.

* * *

"Stay alert, everyone," Isaac said as they approached the base of the lighthouse. "We don't know what we're getting into. These people may or may not be hostile, and we don't know what they're capable of, either."

Ivan nodded. "I think I recognize the shape of that construct now, too. Our kids told us about the Tuaparang airship they saw in Apollo Sanctum, remember? That matches the description, from what I can tell."

"So they're Tuaparang, then," Jenna replied. "Maybe. I think you're right about the airship, but we should let them make the first move, just in case. No need to start a confrontation unless we need to."

Garet laughed. "No need to start a confrontation? That doesn't sound like the Jenna I know," he said.

Jenna glared at him. "In case you've forgotten, Tuaparang soldiers are outfitted with high-tech anti-psynergy weaponry. They're probably armed specifically to take down Adepts like us." She held her staff in both hands behind her head in a relaxed pose. "Of course, they probably won't pose any trouble to us anyway. But I don't want to find out I'm wrong. Do you?"

Garet snorted. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Your call, Isaac."

Isaac smiled. "I think we may as well take the diplomatic route. Let 'em take the first shot, if they want. We can take it."

As they approached, a Tuaparang guard raised a bowgun in their direction. "Halt! Who goes there?" he cried.

Isaac raised both hands in a peaceful gesture. "Just a few friendly Warriors of Vale, trying to investigate a disturbance at one of the four anchors of the world. Feel like telling us what's going on?"

The warrior held his position. He looked back at the soldiers behind him, then looked forward at the interlopers. He looked back again, then forward again. He hesitated.

"Th-they're Adepts! Get the shields up, dammit!" he shouted. He then turned tail and ran back to the airship.

A guard stationed at the lighthouse entrance followed him. "Team two has obtained the package, ETA five minutes!" he shouted as the airship's blades began to spin.

Isaac looked at his friends. "Sounds like they don't want to be friends. What do we do?" he said with mock worry.

But before anyone could respond, the airship began emitting a loud hum. A dark sphere of energy emanated out from the cargo bay.

The Warriors of Vale looked at each other, unsure of how to react.

And a strange device mounted under the chin of the cockpit, looking like a bundle of cylinders attached to a pivot, turned to face them. It created a high-pitched whine as it began to spin.

Isaac immediately built up a thick wall of rock in front of the group. Less than a second later, an earsplitting roar filled the air as the cylinders began launching hundreds of metal shards a second at the impromptu barricade he had set up.

Jenna shouted something at Isaac. "WHAT?" he called back to her.

She leaned in. "I THINK THEY'RE HOSTILE! WE SHOULD BE CAREFUL."

Isaac nodded. He sat down behind the rock wall and tried to think of a way to get everyone out safely.

* * *

"Out of the way."

"B-but sir, it's too early, we have some tests to perform-"

"Oh, tests! I'm so sure. Unlock the door to the stasis chambers."

The researcher sat terrified as he looked down the blade of Felix's greatsword. He glanced up at Felix's face. "Uh, I... sure. Sure, I'll do that right away." He reached into his pocket and fumbled with his keyring for a moment.

Felix reached down and snatched it from his hand. "Thanks, I'll try them all until they work. I'll give them back after." He put away his sword and gave a quick salute as he headed down the nearest hallway. He turned a corner and started toward the stasis chamber door.

Glancing at the keyring at his hand, and the thirty-plus keys on it, he rolled his eyes. He tossed the keyring over his shoulder and raised his leg as he approached the heavily reinforced chamber door.

He brought all his weight down on it and it flew several feet into the room, revealing rows and rows of massive, gloomy tubes of glass. An eerie glow could be seen coming from nowhere in particular. Once, the room had given Felix goosebumps - the atmosphere just felt unnatural. But now he was all business. Three rows down, two to the side, and take a left. Those were the directions he repeated in his mind. He had been here almost every day for twenty years. He could find Karst's stasis cell blindfolded.

He was dimly aware of an alarm being sounded as he hurried down the labyrinthine path to his goal. That researcher had probably called for security. Let them come, Felix thought. He would take on the entire army if he had to. He wasn't even sure it would be that great of a challenge.

When he finally reached Karst's cell, he wasted no time going straight to the control panel mounted on the pedestal to the right of it. The monitor showed vital signs, time spent in stasis, and other important bits of information, but Felix wasn't concerned with any of them. He raised his fist and pounded the button that said "Emergency Revitalization."

Only then did he allow himself a moment to get his bearings. He looked into the tube his lover floated in silently, as he had so often beforehand. She floated in a mysterious liquid that kept her stable, kept her breathing, kept her nourished. Her hair floated freely in it. She was undressed, open to the world to see, from the scales on her shoulders to her long, curved toenails.

It occurred to Felix that he should have stopped and grabbed a labcoat or something for her first.

As the fluid began to filter out of the stasis cell, Felix heard footsteps coming down the hallway. Lots of them. A whole crowd. He drew his sword and waited.

Within seconds, twelve Tuaparang warriors came around the corner and leveled their weapons at him. "Drop your weapon! There's no way out!" the leader called.

Felix looked at Karst. It wouldn't be long now.

"Is your armor comfortable?" he called out to the squad leader.

There was a pause. "Wh-what?"

"Because my girlfriend needs something to wear. Is your armor comfortable? You look like you're about her size." Felix's face betrayed none of the satisfaction he was feeling at being able to throw that one out there.

The squad leader growled. "Open fire!" he shouted.

And Felix sprung into motion. He charged toward the soldiers even as bowgun bolts flew toward him. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as he identified each individual trajectory. There was a fair amount of space between each one. That meant that the soldiers hadn't fired quite simultaneously. How sloppy of them.

A few swings of his sword knocked each and every bolt aside. Once he was in the clear, he jumped over the next volley and planted a foot into the face of the squad leader. He felt a crunch as he man's nose - or skull? - fractured beneath Felix's boot. He fell into a roll behind the squad's ranks. Two swings later, and there were a lot fewer than twelve soldiers standing there in the hallway.

He let the survivors retreat.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_(bleh, I need practice with action scenes)  
_

_Ever heard of Pavlov? He did some experiments with mental conditioning – by ringing a bell right before several dogs had dinner, he managed to train them to salivate just from the ring. That's the same method the Empyror had been using. A subtle manipulation of emotion, perhaps a burst of happiness, every time his subjects thought of something he wanted them to think, would have eventually forced them to conform to his will. Think what the Empyror wants, and you get instant happiness! Likewise, he could punish failure with intense sadness, which is why Felix acted like a cornered beast when faced with the possibility of coming back empty-handed way back before Mercury Lighthouse._

_Chalis is much weaker as an adept (we have been told) but it's reasonable to assume she has similar abilities. She may be less familiar with psychology, as well, which would give her brother a further advantage._

_And yeah, so what if Tuaparang soldiers all wield autocrossbows? I say, they know how to use gunpowder weapons too. Miniguns are, uh, powered by fire psynergy. Yeah, let's go with that._


	29. Strategery

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

After what seemed like hours – though it was only about half a minute – the airship's weapon spun down and the roar stopped. The Warriors of Vale held their breath behind their ramshackle barrier, just barely holding together under the onslaught.

"Did it break or something?" Jenna hissed. "I hope it broke."

Isaac held a finger to his mouth to call for silence. He reached a hand to the ground and scooped a large rock out of it. He tossed it around the side of their rock wall, and the roar began again for a second before the gunner apparently realized that it was nothing to be worried about.

"Okay," he whispered, "so we need to deal with that thing quickly somehow. One of them said something about Team Two coming back in five minutes. We need to make sure there's no one to reinforce when they arrive."

Ivan raised his hand a little. "I have a suggestion." A roar filled the air and he jerked his hand back down under cover before he lost a finger. He clicked his tongue. "If possible, we should capture one of them alive. Someone important, preferably. We need to know why they're here."

Isaac nodded. "Good point. Can you get a good read of the terrain with Reveal?"

Ivan closed his eyes and focused. He opened them again after several seconds. "We're about twenty feet from the edge of the shield, and only fifteen feet from the Lighthouse entrance. I can't read anything beyond the shield, though. Something's blocking my psynergy."

Garet looked around the corner of the rock wall. He clenched his fist as he let his psynergy burn through him. The rest of the group tried to shuffle back as far as it was safe to as hundreds of tiny fireballs flew out from him. They soared over the wall and bombarded the airship's shield from all angles to no effect. There was a slight glow after each hit, but it faded almost instantly.

Garet sighed. "The shield cancels alchemy, I guess."

"Dammit," Isaac cursed. "That gets rid of a lot of options. Doesn't look like we can overload the shield with focused firepower, either."

"But we saw people walk through," Jenna pointed out. "It probably doesn't block physical objects. Just constructs of alchemy."

Isaac stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Alright, here's the plan. We need to have some people inside the lighthouse to stop off the rest of the Tuaparang. Garet, Jenna, I'll expand this wall to the doorway. When I give the signal, you run. Stay low, but hurry through the door as fast as you can. Got it?"

Jenna and Garet nodded as they repositioned themselves on the side of the wall closest to the entrance.

Isaac turned to Ivan. "I'm going to throw a tree at it. Can you guide it a little in midair?"

Ivan shrugged. "How big of a tree?"

Isaac pointed to a particularly large oak several meters to their left. "That one. And also some of the earth below it, of course. Aim for the glass at the front, that's probably where the pilot and gunner are."

"I'll try," Ivan said with a wince.

Isaac nodded. "That's all I'm asking. Okay, ready everyone?"

He extended an arm just a little and pointed his palm at the tree in question. With his other hand, he pointed at the route to the lighthouse entrance.

He waited.

He took a deep breath.

"GO!"

Massive spikes of earth flew up between the rock wall and the steps leading to Venus Lighthouse. At the exact same time. a particularly large oak flew about 50 feet into the sky.

The airship's chaingun began to roar, and Isaac prayed that it was aiming for the tree as his wife and his best friend ran for their lives.

Ivan's eyes glowed brightly as a massive windstorm filled the sky in an instant. The tree rocketed down to the ground at several times terminal velocity and impacted the airship on the side of its cockpit.

The tree splintered as the airship spun around 270 degrees, its landing gear crumpling under the torsion. It left massive divots in the ground as its momentum ran out, and right before the cockpit went out of sight behind the rest of the ship's bulk, an impressive dent was visible in the side of the vehicle.

The windshield remained intact, but the weapon, mounted beneath the cockpit itself, was unable to shoot through the airship, and its rear was now facing Isaac and Ivan. The passenger bay door opened and a soldier stumbled out in an attempt to flee. He tripped over his own feet, still too dizzy from the spinning.

Isaac looked over at the lighthouse entrance – the wall was covered in pockmarks from the monstrous cannon, but he saw Jenna flash him a thumbs-up – before nodding to Ivan. They both leapt over the wall and ran at top-speed toward the airship's open door.

Speed was unnecessary, as it turned out. The two soldiers still in the passenger compartment were out cold, probably having smacked their heads against the walls during the spin. The third was still lying outside, probably passed out for similar reasons. Isaac grinned at Ivan. "Nice aim. Seriously."

Ivan smiled and blushed. "I WAS aiming for the glass, you know. It was a lucky mistake."

Isaac opened the door to the cockpit quickly and raised his hands defensively – the compartment was too cramped to swing a sword – but again, there was no need. One of the men was crushed partially against the wall, and the other had his hands up in a gesture of surrender. "P-please, don't kill me! I'm just the pilot!"

Isaac raised his eyebrows. "The pilot, huh?" He grabbed the man by the collar and took him outside, nodding to Ivan as he passed. As Isaac held the pilot to the ground, Ivan put his hands on the man's shoulder.

"So, why are you here?" Ivan asked. Isaac knew that he wasn't expecting an answer, but the pilot would unwillingly answer in his head either way; just a simple trick of human psychology that made Ivan's power so effective.

The pilot tried to answer anyway, but his mouth was full of dirt and grass. He mumbled as loudly as he could. Ivan didn't respond, but he closed his eyes. After a few seconds, a light smile came to his face. "This is very useful stuff. Very, very useful."

Isaac began to ask for specifics before he heard an explosion from within the lighthouse. "Can you hold down the fort here?" he asked. "I've gotta go check on the others."

Ivan nodded, but as Isaac began to move toward the lighthouse door, Jenna came out with a grin on her face.

"We found Team Two!" she said cheerfully. "They had a Venus Djinni. Did you want it?"

Isaac raised an eyebrow. "Why would they have a djinni?"

Without opening his eyes, Ivan answered. "The vortex made it. This was a retrieval mission, as it turns out. My guess about the whole natural occurrences thing was right, apparently, but only halfway. Did you know that when a vortex consumes enough of a single type of psynergy, a djinni is made?"

"Uh... I can't say I did, no," Isaac responded with a blank stare.

Ivan opened his eyes and smiled widely. "Well, it's true, at least as far as this guy knows! Geez, Isaac, this is a PILOT! He just knows enough to get his mission done! Imagine how much their academics must be able to tell me!"

The pilot whimpered.

"I, uh... neat," Isaac said. "Glad you're so excited. Jenna, yes please, I'll take the djinni."

"Can we go to Tuaparang sometime?" Ivan interrupted.

Isaac shrugged. "I don't know, maybe? We should really head to Bilibin first, now that we know what's going on here."

Jenna frowned. "Right, right, the kids. Do we really have to go so soon? Things were just starting to get exciting here. I never thought I'd say this, love, but people don't try to kill us NEARLY enough at home!"

Ivan's grin suddenly seemed to cover at least two thirds of his face. "Good news! The pilot just tried to think of a way to escape, and now I know how to fly an airship! Isn't that great?"

"Cripes, Ivan, I don't think I've ever seen you this excited," Garet said as he followed Jenna out of the lighthouse. "You think you can fly that thing? Cool, give it a try."

Ivan hopped up. "It's just... so much information! So many answers to so many questions! It's so satisfying to have all of this guesswork validated, and... and now I might know how to actually fly though the air! Like a bird!" He nodded wisely. "A big metal bird."

Isaac sighed loudly as Ivan ran inside like an infant on his birthday. "I don't even... ugh, am I the only sane one here?" he asked rhetorically.

"You're cute when you're upset," Jenna said as she smacked him on the butt.

* * *

With Karis and Tyrell already gone to find Kraden, Matthew stood in the lobby of the inn with Sveta and Rief. The innkeeper was hiding, having run inside of his own room at the sight of a beastwoman. He was probably trying to get out through a window and find some guards as they waited. Matthew knew that they couldn't take too long.

"No turning back now, I guess," he said. "Are you two ready?"

Sveta nodded. "Thank you. I feel I am as ready as I shall ever be."

Rief cleared his throat and adjusted his glasses. "I, uh... as a doctor, I feel I can professionally say that yes, _she_ is quite ready."

Matthew laughed. "Good enough. Let's go. Lead on, Oh Queen," he said with a flourish.

She stepped outside, Matthew following to her right and Rief just behind and to her left. As the royal procession marched toward the center of the city, the crowds hushed and parted for them. Murmurs followed in their wake. City guards stood dumbfounded at the enemy walking before them in their own city.

"This is going well," Sveta said. "So if anyone asks, who do I say you two are?"

Matthew put a hand on his chin to think. "Rief is an advisor, I suppose. Which is true – he's a medical advisor. Just don't say that, we don't want them to know you're sick."

Sveta nodded. "And you?"

"Bodyguard, I suppose," Matthew said with a shrug.

The corner of Sveta's mouth tightened in an expression of dissatisfaction. "That does not sound quite right. I am known to be more than competent in a fight, after all."

"Well, I dunno!" Matthew said. "Nobody's going to ask."

"I will think of a better role for you," Sveta said with a roll of her eyes. "Just please keep an eye on the road. I am doing my very best to walk in a straight line. It is not easy."

Rief frowned. "I just wish I could be more help. I'll try to give you a boost whenever I notice you need one, but I do feel awfully useless."

"Would you rather have gone with Tyrell and Karis?" Matthew asked.

"After how she was acting this morning?" Rief asked. He shook his head fiercely. "Heck no."

Matthew sighed. "Yeah... you're right. I feel bad for Tyrell, too." And Karis, he thought, since it was his fault she was in that mood in the first place. "Nothing we can do now but press on, though."

The three continued to walk as regally as possible toward the Palace in the middle of the city. As the crowd parted before them, Matthew couldn't help but be reminded of the calm before a storm.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_I love the layout of Venus Lighthouse. I built it in Minecraft once. Took me several days but I didn't have a lot going on at the time. I barely had to fudge anything because it's internally consistent – sandfalls lead to other sandfalls, and the like. Nice work, Camelot!_


	30. Double or Nothing

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Having already tied up all surviving Tuaparang soldiers (and having stashed the remains of non-survivors in a secluded place), the four Warriors of Vale were now soaring high in the air en route to Bilibin City, the next stop on their set of errands.

They were also in the midst of discovering that knowing how to fly an airship and actually DOING so were two very different things.

"Sorry guys, sorry!" Ivan called from the cockpit as the ship gave another lurch. "I just... oh, where was that lever... this is so unintuitive! I should've written something down..."

Garet, Isaac and Jenna were in the passenger compartment. There was plenty of room now to be tossed around; while it was designed to seat 12 people, there were only 3 of them now. Jenna and Isaac were sitting together, and Garet was seated across from them.

"Ivan!" Garet called out. "Can you PLEASE try to hold it a little more steady? Stability is more important than speed! I'd rather get there slowly and in one piece than crash, thank you very much!"

"If you're having trouble," Isaac began to suggest, "maybe you should stick a little closer to the ground until you've gotten the hang of it? It'd be a safer crash."

Ivan looked back quickly through the open door. "Nonsense! If we're higher up, it'll give me more time to catch us."

"Catch us?" Garet said uneasily.

"With the wind. Remember? Ascending now, hold tight," he replied. He gunned the rear rotor a little too hard and the door slammed shut.

Garet stumbled as he sat toward the front of the ship. Isaac had a more stable posture, and so when Jenna fell into his lap, he was able to catch her as well.

She smiled up at his face. "Whew! Thanks for that. You're a lifesaver."

Isaac laughed. "It's what I do, isn't it?"

Jenna nodded. "You know, I think I like it here, actually," she said as she pulled herself more fully onto his lap. She wrapped her arms around him. "Comfy."

Garet rolled his eyes as he rubbed his head where he had bumped it against the bulkhead.

"First the slap, and now this?" Isaac said. "You've certainly gotten a lot more affectionate in the last little while. What's going on?"

Jenna shifted in his lap. "Well... I don't know, Isaac, you're the smart one. You tell me." She gave him a devilish grin.

"How about a hint?" he replied.

"Well," she began, "it might have something to do with the fact that we've been apart for four years. Four long, lonely years." She shifted again in his lap, this time somewhat more purposefully. "Maybe being on this little adventure has helped remind me why I married you in the first place. And maybe... maybe being in the thick of it again, being in danger for once..." She leaned close and whispered in his ear. "Kinda turned me on a little. I say we get a room at an inn once we reach Bilibin, and make sure that it's a place very, very far away from where Matthew is staying."

Garet sighed loudly. "I'm gonna go help Ivan." He stood and walked into the cockpit, ignoring the fact that the copilot's seat was going to be very hard to sit in, half caved-in as it was. He closed the door behind him regardless. "...Pair of teenagers, the two of you..." he mumbled as it slammed shut.

Isaac smiled at Jenna, but was still unsure. "So you're willing to just put everything behind us, then?" he asked cautiously.

She wiggled a little closer, if that was possible. "Well, I don't have to. You're enjoying this adventure too, aren't you? Well, I've been doing some thinking. Who says we have to settle down? We could just keep doing this. Monster hunting pays well enough, and we're both good at it. We don't have any more kids to raise – Matthew's old enough to live alone, and who knows? Maybe he plans on moving in with this girlfriend of his anyway. And frankly, we aren't really aging. We're in peak physical condition, and we have been for 30 years. We stay on the move, live exciting lives, and never, ever grow old together."

She nestled her head into his shoulder. "And as long as I can keep you away from _her,_ it'll be fine," she said.

Isaac sighed as his face took on a more serious look. "Jenna... let me start by saying that I love your plan. Yes, let's do that, absolutely. But you can't just shut out Mia. She's a close friend of mine, and a big part of this trip is trying to calm the rivalry you two have. I know there's some... confusion about what happened four years ago, but the thing I remember most of all is that there were no romantic feelings that I reciprocated. Keeping us apart would just delay the inevitable; this issue won't stay away forever. You need to learn to trust her and to trust me. You'd like her if you got to know her."

Jenna sat for several seconds. Then, she picked herself up and slid off Isaac's lap. As she took a seat across from him, stretching out across a few seats, she said, "Wow, Isaac, you're pretty talented at saying exactly the wrong thing at exactly the wrong time."

Isaac shook his head. "Sorry, Jenna. But we can't just forget about all this. I love you, I really do, but-"

"But what?" Jenna asked. "Isaac, like it or not, you're going to have to pick one of us. I kind of thought you had picked me, you know, back when you married me and I bore you a son. But apparently that's not the case."

She sat up. "I was more than willing to forgive you for a minute there, in case you didn't notice. But now, I'm starting to wonder if you even want to be forgiven."

Isaac sat forward. "Jenna. I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I've told you that before many times, and that hasn't changed one bit. But I'm not willing to throw my other friends away just to take the easy way out of this. At the center of the whole matter is a misunderstanding, and a big one at that. We need to tackle it or it'll just eat away at us until none of us can be satisfied with what we have."

Jenna laid back across the seats. "You're that sure that what we find will fix everything? It might make it worse, you know. What if I was right all along? Because that's exactly what I'm trying NOT to find out."

"I have a feeling is all," Isaac said, stone-faced.

Jenna paused before answering. "Double or nothing then?" she asked. "I hope you can deal with the consequences, Isaac. It isn't just your happiness at risk. But if you want to gamble all of that on a gut feeling... well, we'll see what happens."

Isaac nodded. "I've had some pretty good gut feelings, you know," he said. But inside, he had to admit that his doubts were growing greater and greater.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Apologies if the Isaac/Jenna bit was pushing the boundaries, but by that point that section was flowing too well for me to want to stifle it. Apologies also for the wait between updates, but it's been a REALLY busy few days._

_Geez, don't you hate when you've written a whole bunch of chapters in a story, and based a lot of the expanded setting on a few assumptions based on stuff you seem to remember from the source material, and then you find out you're wrong? *opens DS, sees Chalis onscreen, notices that her "horns" appear to be made of hair* "FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK"_

_screw it she has horns now, she's more interesting that way_


	31. Stockholm Syndrome

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

_Beginning reanimation sequence..._

_Introducing cardiac stimulators... 100%_

_Initiating neural jumpstart... 100%_

_Draining stasis fluid... 100%_

_Reanimation complete. Checking vital signs..._

_Blood pressure... normal_

_Heart rate... normal_

_Brainwaves... normal_

_WARNING: BLOOD PRESSURE INCREASING BEYOND NOMINAL LEVELS_

_override protocol DIAMOND accepted_

_WARNING: CRITICAL FAILURE: CONTAINMENT_

_override protocol DIAMOND accepted_

_Vital check complete. Open stasis y/n?_

_y_

_Opening stasis chamber. Please wait 5 minutes before attempting to engage subject in any strenuous activity. Thank you, and have a good day!_

_LONG LIVE THE EMPYROR_

* * *

Karst coughed as the last bit of fluid drained from her lungs. All around her were shards of broken glass. Her fist smarted from where she had smashed the tube's clear casing before she realized it was going to open for her anyway.

Oh, and she was completely naked. But the only living being in sight was Felix, so she wasn't worried about that. But she had a great many other things on her mind.

"Felix. So good to see you. How long have I been in there?" she asked. No point in wasting time.

Felix shrugged. "Twenty years or so. How do you feel?"

Karst growled loudly. "How do you THINK I feel? Twenty years, Felix! And you only just realized that the Empyror was playing you like a fiddle?" She rubbed her knuckles where she had smashed the glass. They were bleeding slightly. She was Proxian, though. She could handle a little bleeding.

Felix sighed. "Emotional manipulation does that to a person. I'm still feeling the lingering effects, actually. He's damn good at it. I had to see someone else under his spell before I realized how oddly I had been acting."

"You have some explaining to do," she said. Out of reflex, she tried to stand. Her legs' failure to respond in any useful fashion simply increased her ire further. "You're usually so strong-willed. That's what I like best about you. And yet you let yourself be led around like a trained dog? Lean down for a minute, I need to slap you."

"No," Felix said with a roll of his eyes. "Anyway, we need to get going. Here, I, uh, found you an outfit. There's no accompanying helmet, but I didn't think you'd mind."

Karst glared at Felix. "Pull me away from this glass. It will be difficult enough without the risk of cutting myself."

"Please," Felix chided.

"_Please,_" Karst spat. Felix grinned and picked her up, bringing her a few feet away from the hazard. When she felt she was safe, she slapped him anyway. He dropped her from surprise and she landed hard, but she couldn't feel anything below the waist anyway, and it probably saved time. As she was quickly pulling on the undershirt and the pants, Felix rubbed the reddish mark across his cheek.

"This is the thanks I get for saving you?" he asked. "You'd be trapped in there for who-knows-how-long if I hadn't risked everything to get you out."

She clipped on the chestplate. "And if you had kept your senses, I would never have gone in in the first place. What happened to the gallant knight, trying to protect his fair, broken maiden?"

"The 'gallant knight' had to sacrifice some of his morals to remain in the good graces of the people holding his princess hostage, thank you very much," Felix snapped in response.

"You're all talk," Karst replied, "and I bet you had forgotten about me down here."

"Forgotten? I-" Felix paused. "You're just trying to get me going again." He smiled. "You haven't changed a bit."

Karst gave a coy smile. "I admit I actually was mad at first. Twenty years, though? Are you serious? You haven't aged a day."

Felix sighed and picked her up in both arms. "Neither have you. None of us have. The Golden Sun's effects slowed ageing to a standstill after a certain point. A lot's happened, Karst. I'll tell you along the way. We've got another passenger to pick up before we make our escape."

Karst clicked her tongue. "Who else?"

Felix began to walk toward the stasis chamber exit, sirens still blaring in the distance. He hesitated before answering.

"It's... it's Mia. She fell victim to the Empyror's manipulation. She fell much harder than I did, in fact."

Karst's eyebrow twitched. "Oh, _her._ Tell me, Felix, can't we just leave her? I mean, she's probably quite happy here. Perhaps the Empyror will allow her to be his concubine, if she's lucky." The corners of her mouth curled up. "Or, if you're worried, I could just kill her already and save her the misery."

"No, Karst. You aren't allowed to kill her. She's still a friend of mine, even if I may have to coerce her a little to make her leave."

Karst pouted. "Felix, I haven't killed anyone in decades! I need the practice." She poked him in the chest with a sharp fingernail. "You owe me for this."

Felix looked down at her face with a smirk. "How about the entire Tuaparang airforce? We need to make sure we aren't pursued, of course. How do you feel about a pre-emptive attack?"

Karst paused, trying her best to hide her surprise. "...We shall see," she admitted. Her, immobile, against legions of Tuaparang's elite soldiers? It would almost be a challenge.

Maybe.

* * *

Sveta and her small retinue finally reached the gates of Bilibin Palace. There was a contingent of guards waiting just inside, spears at the ready. One stepped forward as they approached.

"Halt! State your identity, beastwoman, or we will execute you where you stand as an enemy of the state!"

Sveta cocked her head. "My name is Queen Sveta Czamaral, and I am here to meet with Lord McCoy regarding diplomatic relations between our two nations. I will meet him at his leisure, but sooner would be better. And if you do not know my reputation, I would like to inform you that you will need a lot more guards if you plan to execute me."

Matthew stepped forward threateningly, placing a hand on his sword for emphasis.

The soldier hesitated, probably trying to decide whether she was bluffing or not. After several seconds, he motioned to another guard. "You heard her. Pass the message on to the Lord, let him decide if he wants to see this woman." He turned back to Sveta. "If you are who you say you are, then it just might be your lucky day. I hear Lord McCoy is in a good mood. He might be willing to negotiate your surrender."

Sveta nodded. She held her head high as she began to walk toward the palace proper. But the lead guard raised a hand. "Hold on. I know who YOU are. Who are these two men?"

"This is Rief, one of my closest advisors," Sveta said. Turning to Matthew, she continued. "And this is Matthew, my royal consort. I believe it will be acceptable to bring both into the diplomatic proceedings?"

He tried to hold his expression as neutral as possible but Matthew couldn't help but choke just a little. Royal consort? That wasn't part of the plan. But he supposed he'd have to get used to being known as the Prince Consort of Morgal eventually- _NOPE!_ he shouted at himself. _Too early to be thinking about that! Way too early to get married. _But he had to admit to himself that he liked the idea. Sleeping next to her hadn't been so bad, and if he could let himself get under the covers, too- _See, look, you've done it again. Nice going._

The guard grimaced. "A human, with the queen of Morgal? I see we don't all share the same standards," he said. "I hadn't heard of a royal wedding, but to be honest, I never paid attention to your fleabitten nation in the first place. Head on in, the three of you. And don't make any sudden movements."

They entered the palace under the watchful eyes of several of McCoy's liegemen, none of whom were brave enough to come too close. Rief leaned over to Sveta. "That guy had some SERIOUS cojones," he whispered. "News must not travel much around here."

Sveta nodded. "I suspect that if he knew of our previous exploits, we would have been attacked on sight. Not because of anything we have done, of course, but if anyone knew how great of a potential threat we truly pose, it would have been in their best interests to keep us at arm's length."

Matthew coughed. "Umm... S-sveta...?"

Sveta looked at him and smiled. "Relax, please. They were more likely to let in two members of the royal family than one with her bodyguard. And you are lucky I did not refer to you as the court jester, what with your display with that sword!"

Matthew blushed. "I, uh, just wanted to make sure I hadn't accidentally fulfilled some Belinsk traditions or something. I mean, not that I don't want to... uh, eventually... maybe, I mean-"

Sveta put a paw on her chin. "Well, if you are THAT interested, I suppose I could try my best to think of one. You called me Kittydog earlier, did you not? If you wish, I could interpret that as-"

"You know what? Let's talk about this later," Matthew said, defeated. He hoped desperately that this was a sign she was starting to develop a sense of humor.

Though privately, he had to admit he halfway hoped she was being serious and that the decision had been made for him.

* * *

Two guards were slumped against the walls near Mia's door. One had a shard of ice pierced through his heart, and the other was still coated in a thin sheet of frost. Felix saw no further signs of conflict. He took this to be a good sign.

He set Karst down next to the doorway. "Will you be safe here for a few minutes before I return?"

She looked at him blankly. "Was that a joke, or do they have some form of indoor heavy artillery that I'm unaware of?"

Felix smiled. "Just checking. I feel bad just leaving you here. Oh, I know!" He snapped his fingers.

He reached down and put a hand on Karst's shoulder. There were several flashes of dim yellow light. He stood up straight again and stumbled, suddenly feeling as if he weighed far more than before.

Karst's eyes widened. "What...? What did you do?"

"I gave you half of my Djinn. What, have you never used one before?" Felix asked with a raised eyebrow.

"No. No, I haven't," she replied. She raised her hands and looked at them in amazement. She squeezed them closed, and opened them again, savouring the sudden leap in power. "I think I like it."

Felix put a hand on the doorknob and stopped. It could be dangerous to just leave her here with all those djinn, completely untrained. But then again, he wouldn't be gone long, and she was probably talented enough to figure it out on her own. "I'll give you a formal lesson on their use once we're in the clear. For now, uh... just try not to close off our means of escape if you have to defend yourself."

Karst laughed eerily. Felix shuddered and knocked on Mia's door.

"Come in!" he heard from inside. He opened the door.

Mia was dressed all in black. In her left hand, held between her index and middle fingers, was a single flat card.

Her right hand was juggling about 7 bright fireballs.

"Nice to see you," Mia said without looking at Felix. Her attention was (thankfully) absorbed in keeping the fireballs from dropping to the carpet. "Sorry, I'll just be a second."

Felix sighed. "Mia, we have to go."

"What?" she said, turning to look at him for a split-second. Her attention was broken for just long enough to miss a fireball on its route downward.

Felix's blade flashed out of its sheath. Once, and the errant orb of flame vanished. Twice, and Mia was now juggling thin air. The blade glowed brightly for a moment, and then it faded once more to darkness.

Mia blushed. "Sorry. I guess I pushed myself a little too far there. Thanks for that. What did you say though? We have to leave?"

Felix nodded. "I think we've overstayed our welcome."

"B-but we just got here! And I... I've been practicing!" Mia said indignantly.

"Practicing?" Felix asked. "But... what?"

Mia put her hands behind her back and shuffled her feet. "Well, I... I don't know how useful I can be. I'm a healer, but they seem pretty advanced in the field of medical science. I'm not much of a fighter, so... I was trying to see what other talents I could put to use."

Felix stared at her flatly. "So you took up juggling."

She nodded. "Do you think he'll like it?"

Felix put a hand on his face.

Mia sighed loudly. "Well, I... I guess I have other talents I could put to use." She looked at the floor in shame. "Does he... does he have a harem?"

Felix let his hand fall limply as his eyes snapped wide open. "Mia, WHAT? Where did that come from? You're... you're married! By the Wise One, you can't just whore yourself out to him to impress him!"

Mia's hands clasped over her mouth as she turned bright red. "Oh! I had forgotten! I feel so terrible! Please don't say anything!"

"To who, your husband?" Felix asked with a sigh.

"No, to His Highness."

Before Felix could respond, the ground shook beneath his feet. Mia fell to the ground, and Felix only barely kept his balance. "We'll talk about this later. Time's of the essence. Look, you probably want to see Rief again, right? To explain what's going on?" He stretched out a hand toward her to help her up.

As she took it and got back to her feet, she nodded. "I do. Maybe he can come here! I should send word to him. Nowell, too."

"That's not what I meant," Felix said through gritted teeth.

Mia shrugged. "You're probably right." She folded her arms. "Nowell's off with Piers, anyway. I'm not too sure I want to talk to him this soon. Unless he wants to meet The Empyror! Do you think he'll be interested in meeting The Empyror?"

Felix stared at her blankly.

His sword flashed once. There was a light smack as the flat of the blade hit Mia on her upper thigh. Her eyes closed as she gently fell to the ground. The blade glowed for a moment, then went dark once more.

* * *

Felix opened the door, Mia slung over his shoulder. "What happened?" he asked Karst.

He nearly dropped the water adept as he noticed the collapsed hallway to his left, green tendrils twisting out of the rubble.

"Felix, you neglected to tell me that these Djinn would eliminate my power over flame!" Karst shouted. "I tried to incinerate some unfortunate souls who walked by, and look what happened!"

"I... you... how...?" Felix said.

"I hope there is an alternate route," Karst continued. "Now that you have your prize, can we please get going? I'm only comfortable with enough firepower to level a city when I know for sure that I can control it."

"How'd you use Growth Psynergy? These hallways are made of SOLID METAL."

"Don't ask me! I didn't mean to do it! You should have warned me!"

Felix sighed. "What am I going to do with you?"

He paused. He looked at Mia, slung over his shoulder unconscious. He looked at Karst, sitting with atrophied legs against the wall.

"...What AM I going to do with you?" he asked her rhetorically. "I, uh, haven't worked out the logistics of this trip yet."

Karst folded her arms. "Well, do it quickly. The sooner we're off this monstrocity, the better."

Felix shook his head. "I have one more stop before we leave for good. I just want to pick something up in my room."

"I hope it's important," Karst said.

"Oh, it is," Felix replied. "It certainly is."

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Technically the spelling is "monstrosity", but when I made the spelling mistake I decided to leave it because it's such an excellent pun at the same time._

_I'll be honest, for a long time I never understood Duskshipping. I mean, I saw the evidence that it might be canon, what with Karst's interactions with Felix, but... I never saw them having any real chemistry. Now that she's up and about, I've got my work cut out for me in making them actually seem like a proper couple without it being an imbalanced relationship. Karst's kind of a huge bitch everywhere you see her in the game. It's hard to have her act any other way without it feeling incredibly out of character._


	32. Bottled Up

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"Look, Karis," Tyrell said, "I get that you're bothered about Matt and Sveta, but you need to set that crap aside for now."

Karis simply rolled her eyes in response.

"Are you even listening? We have more important things to deal with," Tyrell said with exaggerated hand movements.

Karis didn't reply.

"Kraden, remember? Kraden. We need to find him, and then we need to meet up with Matthew. They might be in trouble."

Karis turned from their path and began to walk down a different route. "I'm going to go check the other side of the city. We'll meet up eventually."

But Tyrell grabbed her by the shoulder. "Okay, you want to be that way? Fine. Let's deal with your issues first. Leave Matthew, Sveta and Rief alone, unsupported, in the middle of a city that probably wants them dead."

"Poor Rief," Karis said dispassionately. She shook off Tyrell's hand and continued down the side road.

Tyrell stared in disbelief. "What the hell is _wrong_ with you, Karis?" His voice took on a slightly higher pitch and he quickened his pace to catch up with her. "You're the smart, reasonable one! Quit being so... so... _me!_"

"I can't even tell if that was supposed to be an insult or what, Tyrell, but I am being reasonable." She turned on her heel and folded her arms as she stared daggers at her friend. "We want to find Kraden in this massive city. He's in an inn. Maybe. That's all we know. So why not split up? We'll cover more ground."

Tyrell held out his arms helplessly. He did his best to speak slowly and evenly. "You and I both know you're just trying to avoid talking about this. I want to help, Karis. I really do. Will you let me try?"

Karis bit her lower lip, but she held her brow furrowed. Part of her didn't want to be helped. She just wanted to be alone with her anger. She was dying to just do something... unreasonable. To let it all out. But she was also morbidly curious about Tyrell's conflict resolution abilities. She paused, and finally relented. "Alright, go."

Tyrell took a deep breath. "Okay. Setting aside the standard 'plenty of other fish in the sea' comment-" Karis groaned loudly at that. "-I would like to say that the three of us have been friends for as long as I can remember. You could almost say our friendship goes back before any of us were born, thanks to our parents being friends. Are you really willing to sacrifice that for the sake of a petty grudge?"

Karis looked away. "I think Matthew has stopped caring about that for now. He sent us on our own separate mission, remember? The one we're on now? He could've come with us, but he didn't. Instead he's gone along with his furry friend, leaving us to find Kraden alone."

"That has nothing to do with Sveta," Tyrell responded. He paused. "Okay, maybe a little. But it doesn't matter! Both jobs need to be done as quickly as possible. I'm fine with splitting up to deal with both, and on any other day, you would be too." He extended an accusatory finger toward Karis. "What if it had been someone other than Sveta heading to the palace? What if it was Amiti, or Eoleo, or Himi? You'd be fine with it. But right now, you're jealous, and you're letting it influence every decision you make."

"So what? Am I not entitled to a little selfishness once in a while? I've had my eye on Matthew for a while and you knew it," Karis said.

Tyrell shrugged. "Should've made the first move, then. I told you years ago, it's your own fault for ignoring my advice."

"Why you...!" Karis began. But Tyrell put up a hand to stop her.

"So is that the only reason you've stuck by Matthew this long? Because you had a thing for him?" he asked. "What about me? Are we only friends because you could get at him through me?"

Karis stepped back as if struck. "N-no, that's... of course not! You two are the closest friends I've ever had!"

Tyrell nodded. "Exactly. And you're a close friend of mine too. So I can tell that, while you're pretending to be furious, you're just using it as a screen to hide the fact that you really just want to cry your heart out. That's a bad habit, by the way."

Karis balled up her hands into fists, but said nothing. She wasn't sure if she wanted to burst into tears or punch Tyrell in the face. Perhaps both.

But Tyrell looked both ways on the street, and then pulled her into an alleyway. "There's nobody around. If you want to let it out, go ahead. It isn't healthy to keep all of that emotion bottled up inside. That's why I always let everyone know exactly how I feel, y'know?"

Karis slumped against the wall, but she still didn't let herself cry. "It's not that bad. I'm fine, really."

Tyrell shook his head. "No, you're not. If you were, you could've put this aside for a day until we were done, but instead, we're here talking about it rather than looking for Kraden like we should be."

Karis growled at Tyrell. "Do you want to talk this, or not? First you won't let me go, now you're trying to push me along! Make up your mind!"

"Karis, here's my point. Right now, you're letting the fact that you've had a bad day ruin your ability to get anything done. There'll always be time to sort it out later, but for now, I just need you to come to terms with it enough to set it aside. Got it?"

Karis sighed. "Matthew was right about one thing, at least. You're pretty insensitive, and having a conversation with you about what I'm going through won't solve anything."

Tyrell's eyes widened. "...He said that? That's a little more harsh than I'm used to, coming from him."

"Well, that's not exactly how he put it, but he was sort of right anyway. He apologized that I don't have anyone I can really talk to about this, since he's an oblivious jerk and you're insensitive." Karis threw her hands in the air exasperatedly. "You're trying, bless you. Sort of. But 'hurry up and angst so we can be on our way' isn't a great way to help someone out."

Tyrell frowned. "I just go with what I know. I know I'm not as smart as you or Matthew, but I've been through my share of hardship, too."

Karis felt a pang of guilt in her chest. She had forgotten all about Tyrell's mother.

"What I've learned," he said, "was that if you let yourself be overcome by sadness, then you shut down. That's what happened to Dad. It almost happened to me. But when I went to live with Rief's mom for a bit, I learned that life goes on even after tragedy. The world doesn't care about my problems, and sometimes I have to set my own cares aside so I can do what needs to be done. Imil wasn't affected by my Mom's death. Kalay moved on after the funeral. Only Dad wouldn't let go, or set it aside, and it almost ruined him. So when I went back, I ignored how I felt and did what I had to do for Dad. Because it was what needed to be done."

Karis was silent for a moment. "You... you're right. You had a lot to deal with in a very short time. And your problem makes mine seem completely insignificant."

"I'm not saying you need to forget about it. I didn't." Tyrell stood up straight and stretched his arms. "But we have a job to do now. Once it's done, you and Matthew can sort out your differences. Maybe even you and Sveta, since you seem to harbor a bit of a grudge. And you can get on with finding one of those other fish in the sea."

Karis nodded. "Thanks for the advice. I'm... I'm sorry. You aren't insensitive at all. You're better at this than Matthew, even though that doesn't really say much." She breathed slowly to calm herself. "Alright. I can sort this out later. First, we need to get a list of inns in the city, and we can check them one by one until we find Kraden. We can also keep an ear out for anyone who might have seen him-"

But just then, Tyrell stood at attention. "Something's going on." He peeked around the corner of the alleyway. "Uh oh. Karis, you should come see this."

Karis cocked her head. "What, did you hear something?"

"No, it's just..." Tyrell shook his head. "Whatever. Look!"

She looked. And she gasped.

"Looks like we've found Kraden," Tyrell said.

But the Bilibin City guards had found him first, and now that he was chained up and being led to the city prison, he was in no position to help whatsoever.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_I think I have figured out how to not hate Kraden: replace him with a fantasy version of David Suzuki in all but name. Now he's an adventurous, intelligent scientist who is truly, deeply fascinated with the (semi)natural world. He's a kind and caring individual as well, a genuine altruist, and he is very good at sharing his love of how the world works with anyone who is willing to listen._

_So basically he doesn't actually change a bit, except it makes it easier to think of him as more than Mr Plot Engine._


	33. Mission In Progress

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Matthew, Sveta and Rief sat in the waiting room of Bilibin Palace. There were several armed guards watching them, but they seemed woefully unprepared for what could have been unleashed upon them at any moment; they were visibly terrified, and any time one of the three friends made a sudden movement, at least one of the guards would jump in surprise.

"Why does Lord McCoy have a waiting room?" Sveta asked rhetorically. "I was not aware that it was a common fixture in royal households. Mine does not have one."

"Th-there had been a great number of requests for audience some time ago," one of the guards stammered. "Being a g-generous man, Lord McCoy, uh, made time for as many as he could. He makes it a priority."

Sveta looked at Matthew. "That is very impressive," she said. "I tried my very best, but at no point was I able to entertain more than a handful of inquiries a day."

The guard who had spoken scratched his head uncomfortably.

Rief smiled. "Well, I'm certainly happy about it. Comfy chairs, nice decorations, and look, we even have snacks!" He reached out and took a grape from a bowl in the middle of the table in front of them, and popped it into his mouth.

"Yes, well..." the guard continued, "They... uh, weren't always, uh, pleasant. So this room was intended to... calm them. Uh... yeah."

Rief paused, the grape half-chewed, as he stared in surprise at the guard. "Is this poisoned?" he asked around the fruit.

Another guard spoke up. "No, it isn't. He's just nervous because he KNOWS HE ISN'T SUPPOSED TO TALK TO YOU. Shut it, Riley!"

The first guard, Riley, sputtered in response. "B-b-but... But I..." He hurried over to the other man and huddled in close. He muttered something under his breath.

Sveta cleared her throat. "I can hear you from here. They might not, but I can," she said.

"What's up?" Matthew asked.

"He's afraid we'll do something and he's trying to stay on our good side," she provided.

Rief took another grape. "WILL we do anything?" he asked before putting it into his mouth.

Sveta shook her head. "We will not act first, that's for sure." She looked at the guards. "We are here strictly for diplomatic purposes. This war is unnecessary and foolhardy, and we are here to find a way to end the conflict."

The second guard, the one Riley had spoken to, stepped forward with as much bravado as he seemed able to muster. "This war is YOUR fault, missy! Your kind's just getting what it deserves for unleashing all this hardship on us!" He gripped his spear in both hands. Riley backed away until he had several feet in distance from the other guy.

"My kind?" Sveta shouted as she stood. Matthew grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently, and she calmed herself a fraction, but she remained standing. "My kind made no move against you. This is an invasion on your part. The Grave Eclipse has hurt the beastmen, perhaps irreversibly, and your nation has the gall to attack so soon after a disaster of that magnitude? Watch your step, guard."

"N-no, you watch YOUR step!" the unnamed man said. "I wasn't talking about beastmen, I was talking about adepts! Yeah, I know what you are!" he said in response to their surprised expressions. "Queen Sveta Czamaral of Belinsk is a wind adept of some reknown, but y-you think we can't deal with you? Bilibin's been under fire from you psynergy-abusing lowlifes for years! That eclipse was just another attack that we came out on top of, thanks to McCoy and his leadership! If you make a single move, we've got all sorts of stuff to take you down, trust me! Just trust me!"

There was a tense silence.

"Thanks for telling us, we'll be sure to watch out for that." Matthew said. "Now... why do 'us psynergy-abusing lowlifes' scare you so much? What do you mean under fire?"

Riley spoke up cautiously from the corner he had unconsciously backed into. "Th-the Golden Sun... was caused by adepts... and then once we finally rebuilt the city and surrounding towns, you started ruining our farmland, burning homes... terrorizing people..."

"Yeah! Just yesterday somebody trapped half the population in the market square using some ice witchcraft!" the unnamed man said.

Rief avoided eye contact as he took another grape.

Sveta sat back down. "I am sorry to hear you have been victimized so thoroughly. Psynergy is a gift to be shared by all, not to allow some to benefit at the expense of others. What you have experienced is not representative of the entire adept population, let me assure you. Not remotely."

Matthew nodded. "I happen to know that my mother helped with the rebuilding of Vault, in fact," he said. "She's a flame adept, and a powerful one at that, but she has never used her talents to hurt others unless they attacked first."

"Funny you should mention Vault, now that it's a ghost town!" the guard said. "Nobody's heard from them since before the eclipse!"

Riley fidgeted with his hands. "I hear there were adepts living there, too," he said. "An older couple, an earth one and a fire one. They say they're to blame."

Matthew narrowed his eyes. Sveta took his hand and squeezed it gently, the same thing he had done for her just moments before.

Rief tried to change the subject. "So, uh, is Lord McCoy busy today? Do we know how long it might be before he'll be available?"

The unnamed guard shook his head. "He's getting reports from the frontlines today. No idea when he'll be done, but you don't have the right to complain about the wait. It's by his word alone that you haven't been executed already. He heard that there had been a beastwoman, and made it very clear to us to treat her with some decency until he could interrogate her himself."

Rief rolled his eyes at the "execution" comment, but Sveta leaned forward anxiously. "The frontlines? So my people have seen combat already?" She paused. "...Do we even have any soldiers to field?"

The guard just laughed. "Soldiers or no, you won't be able to stand against Bilibin. We have the mightiest army on the face of the planet, and apparently, beastmen aren't nearly as ferocious as your reputation suggests!"

He shook his head and smiled. "I came in here expecting a tiger, and all I see is a pussycat and her two little playtoys."

Sveta coughed to cover up an involuntary growl.

* * *

Karst hated sitting and waiting. How ironic, considering her present circumstances. All she could DO was sit and wait.

Felix was in his room, retrieving an object of some importance that he refused to tell her about. "Wait and see," was all he said when she asked. Mia was lying unconscious against the wall next to Karst, and it was all the Proxian could do to keep herself from snapping that precious little neck of hers.

So Karst decided to distract herself by practicing her psynergy.

What had happened in the hallway before was an accident, but she knew what had happened now. Felix had explained that different djinn act as a filter for an adept's psynergy; certain varieties will open new pathways of psynergy to explore, and Karst had stumbled upon one when she tried to make the ground explode beneath the feet of some passing soldiers.

Instead of exploding, she had planted the seeds of life where life should not have been able to grow. Energy that should have gone into pure, beautiful heat had instead powered the metabolism of a mass of nettles. They grew and grew incredibly rapidly, and Karst had had no idea how to stop it. Before long, the walls themselves had given way.

It was impressive, for sure, but Karst did not consider herself to be one who made mistakes. So now she was putting her mind to work making sure it would not happen again.

She focused a minute amount of psynergy into the wall in front of her. There was a small "pop", and a scorch mark appeared at the point she desired. Fire psynergy. Good, so that wasn't completely locked off from her.

Then she attempted to focus on multiple points around her. The Supernova psynergy was a favorite of hers; attacking from all directions, she could surround the target in flame, burning them no matter where they went.

When she looked around, there was no fire. There were merely floating chunks of rock. She cut off the flow of energy and they vanished into thin air as if they had never existed in the first place.

She squeezed her eyes shut in frustration. How could she predict what techniques would produce earth and which dealt with fire? Stupid djinn didn't make any sense. She was glad she never had to deal with them in the past.

She called the rocks into existence again. She inspected them more closely – sharpened hunks of solid rock. She supposed that she could use them the same way as with Supernova. Raising her hand, she tried touching the one in front of her face. It felt as solid as any other rock she had ever encountered, yet she knew it would be gone the moment she let up her focus.

She took away her hand and tried using her mind to launch it directly at the wall, pointed end first.

It embedded itself up to three quarters of its length.

She let it vanish with an evil grin. Oh, that would do nicely. A very satisfying hole was still visible in the metal.

She tried it again several times until she felt accurate enough to use it under duress. Before long, she was a professional, creating four or five and moving them independently to hit the same or several targets.

She formed one more out of thin air.

She prepared to launch it.

Then her eyes widened as an idea came into her head.

* * *

Felix tore through his closet, tossing aside various knicknacks he no longer had any use for. He knew what he was looking for, but he had set it aside over a decade ago. Where would he have put it?

He found his old scarf. It didn't suit him anymore, he thought as he threw it away. A small bag of gold? Worth keeping around. He set it aside. A book... the Necronomicon? Worthless. That went into the discard pile. A pile of thirty-odd herbs? How long had THOSE been in there? How the heck had they been preserved? Eww.

Felix stood up. He wouldn't have any luck there. It wasn't in his closet, it wasn't in his clothes drawer, and it certainly wasn't on his person...

He put a hand to his chin. Where would he put a valuable item like that, if he had wanted to hide it from prying eyes?

His eyes widened.

_Oh, fuck,_ he thought. _Right._

* * *

Felix - _Doublon,_ he corrected himself. It was taking a lot of work to get used to his new name - stood in the shadows atop Apollo Sanctum, long-range audio receiver in his ear.

"So, uh, any idea how to activate this thing?" he called. The light was harsh, bright enough to burn in seconds. Felix had several rudimentary protective measures, including the standard Tuaparang outfit (apparently made specifically to resist such an environment, he thought with some amusement), but he didn't want to be out there any longer than he had to.

His receiver crackled, and a voice responded through the static. The Empyror himself was on the other end. "I'm sorry, but all I have are clues! The legends say that the Apollo Lens is an immense machine powered by psynergy, and that your Sol Blade is the key to activating it! Beyond that, I have no clue."

Felix clicked his tongue. This might take some time, then. He was about to leap out into the light when his radio crackled a second time.

"Hold on! Okay, I'm looking through my notes..." The sound of pages turning, followed by a few clicks, could be heard over the line. Felix allowed himself a bit of hope. Maybe his friend had missed something in his first readthrough?

"Alright, this might not help much," the Empyror continued, "but you know how sometimes people say 'such and such is the key', and it's just a metaphor? Not here! You have to find something to literally stick your sword into. The Sol Blade was a symbol of Jenei power, and I guess it functioned as a good failsafe."

"Failsafe?" Felix asked. "Why would you need a failsafe? What does the machine do?"

There was a pause. "Well, it's, uh... it runs on experimental technology, Felix. Very temperamental."

"What aren't you telling me?"

"I..." another pause. Then the Empyror sighed. "If the inscriptions are true, it was intended to run on Light psynergy."

Felix choked. "Light? What? How..." That explained a lot. The Empyror must have sent him here to activate the machine so the Tuaparang could study it. Another kind of psynergy? Remarkable. And if the nation could figure out how to put it to use, they would be able to revolutionize the study of alchemy. The Empyror was truly a philanthropist.

"Satisfied?" His Highness asked.

"Very," Felix responded. "So, I'll go look for a place to put this."

And he found it, after a bit of searching. There were three pedestals placed as far from each other as possible, and in the middle was a chamber. On an overlook, just near the chamber itself, was a fourth pedestal with a slit in the center.

_Here goes nothing,_ Felix thought. And he plunged the sword into the slit.

He jumped away in anticipation of a dramatic reaction.

But nothing happened.

"Uh... is there something I'm missing?" he called into the radio.

"Hmm," the Empyror mused. "I don't know. Uh, try turning it. Like a literal key. Maybe you need to take it out, too."

Felix put both hands on the sword and tried to turn it carefully. He didn't want to break it. "Is it rusted, maybe? Could be a tough lock. It won't turn, I know that for sure."

The Empyror laughed. "Well, okay, maybe there's something we don't know about. Uhm... try just taking it out, we'll look elsewhere for another keyhole."

Felix nodded, even though he knew His Highness wouldn't be able to see his movements. He grasped the handle and yanked.

The Sol Blade did not budge.

"Uh... My Lord?" he said hesitantly. "It's stuck."

There was a pause. "...Stuck?" There was some more audible turning of pages. "Okay, uh... maybe we're missing something."

Felix looked around the area. He tried pressing on anything that looked like it could feasibly be a button, hidden or otherwise. He stood on the pedestal and jumped a few times. He tried using every type of Psynergy he knew on the sword itself... without risking damage, at least. Then he tried to pull it out again.

"It's a no-go," he said with a sigh. "Sorry, sir. It looks like we need something more than just my sword."

The Empyror clicked his tongue. "I understand. Well, I'm sorry about your sword. If you can't get it out, then... well, you might just have to leave it. I'll have a replacement made for you."

"Oh, no, no need!" Felix said with a laugh. He didn't want to put the Empyror through any more hassle than was necessary. "I can just use whatever's lying around. I'll go to the armory when I get back, maybe-"

"But I insist," came the response. "You are a unique soldier. A unique soldier needs a unique blade. You are the only combat-capable adept among all who serve me, and that grants you a bit more privilege. So you will have a new sword, and it might even be able to solve that problem we've run into with psynergy oversaturation."

Felix failed to suppress a grin. So he'd be able to safely equip as many djinn as he wanted to? He'd be nigh-unstoppable. He didn't think of himself as a prideful man, but he admitted that maybe, for once, he'd be willing to refer to himself as the greatest warrior on the face of the planet. At least once he had all those djinn at his disposal.

"...Thank you, My Lord," he said after several seconds. "You are far too kind."

"Only the best for my handpicked servants. I'll meet you when you get back," said the Empyror, "General Doublon."

* * *

Felix punched the wall of his room as hard as he could, bending the dark steel that encompassed every facet of this damned city.

He had lost the Sol Blade years ago. And for what? To serve that bastard who continued to corrupt his every thought? To earn a blade that was best - in fact, specifically designed - for betraying people with the same talents as him.

He punched the wall several more times. And then he smacked himself in the forehead. How could he have been so stupid? Why did he ever listen to that man?

He picked up his dark sword from where he had placed it against the wall, hoping never to have to touch it again.

But he had no other choice. For now, at least.

* * *

When he opened the door, the first thing he saw was an uncountable number of circular holes in the wall. He looked around to make sure that everyone was still alive, and when he did, the SECOND thing he saw made his jaw drop.

Karst was standing.

She was shaky, for sure, but she was standing.

"How did...?" he stammered. "Karst! That's amazing, what happened?"

Karst raised an arm and showed him the small rock she was holding. "I can make these and move them with psynergy. It's really, really hard work, but I can try to support myself if I align them carefully. Did you get what you were looking for?"

Felix shook his head. "I was looking for a proper sword. My Sol Blade, the one I used when we fought at Mars Lighthouse. Remember that one?"

"Umm... no?" Karst said with a sarcastic shake of her head. "A sword's a sword, Felix. You didn't beat me because of a piece of metal. You beat me because you're you, and also because your friends outnumbered us four to one."

"Well, okay," Felix relented. "I was looking for a sword that isn't THIS one." He motioned to the psynergy-sapping blade on his back. "It was a 'gift' from the Empyror, and his influence still affects me enough that I worry about anything that will remind me of his 'generosity.' It drains psynergy, too, and that's been wearing on me quite a bit."

Karst raised an eyebrow. "Then why keep wearing it?"

"Well, it's a long story, but suffice to say that having enough djinn on you at a time could kill you." He paused. "Actually, the Empyror told me that one, too, so I don't know if it's even true or not." He smacked himself on the head. "Either way, we've split them, so I don't need this thing as a safety measure anymore. But I still need a sword, and the one I was looking for is a little out of our way."

"At least the time didn't COMPLETELY go to waste," Karst said with a roll of her eyes. She took a hesitant step forward. Bend the knee, extend the lower leg, shift the weight, be careful of the foot. She took another step. Bend the knee, bring the back leg forward. Extend the lower leg, shift the weight, careful of the foot. She was sweating profusely. It was like balancing on a tightrope while holding two full jugs of water and trying to recite the alphabet backwards. And she had her own physical limit of psynergy to worry about, too.

"I can stand," she said. "It isn't quite what it used to be, but I can do it for now. I'll do my best not to slow us down, and I'll keep going as long as my psynergy holds out."

Felix smiled smugly. "That won't be any time soon, don't worry. Djinn are performance enhancers. You practically have an endless well of energy to draw from now, and your strength – upper body, at least – is probably through the roof. Even so," he said as he bent down to pick up Mia, "I'll take the lead. I've spent a lot of time in combat for the past few years, and you're still getting used to being awake again."

Karst nodded. "I'll support you as best I can."

"Good," he said, "because we have to head for the airship docks now, and in all likelyhood the Empyror has realized I've defected by now. It's the only exit from the city, airborne as we are. We need to steal a ship, and before we take off, we have to make sure we won't be followed. That may involve destroying every other airship in their arsenal."

Karst thought for a moment. "I'm okay with that," she said.

"I thought you'd be. Come on, there's no time to waste!"

He started to run down the hall before turning to see Karst still struggling with basic steps. He frowned.

Karst looked at him, and then looked at her feet.

"Oh, fuck it," she said, before simply using the rocks themselves to propel her through the air. Why walk when you can fly?

She slammed to the ground as she passed Felix, the rocks vanishing.

"Oh," Felix added, "you might want to stay a little away from me if you're gonna do that. The sword dispells existing psynergy effects as well."

Karst wiped her mouth, checking for blood, and then gave Felix a grim smile. "You did that on purpose."


	34. So Fair and Foul a Day

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

In the waiting room of Bilibin Palace, the tense silence had deteriorated into more of a bored white-noise in the hour or so since the trio arrived. The guards had split off into their own groups to sort-of watch the guests while in reality focusing much more on their own conversations. Matthew had his arm around a very drowsy Sveta, and Rief was idly juggling several balls of ice. He still needed more practice before he would be anywhere near passable at it, but he was quick enough to dismiss the conjured orbs whenever he dropped one.

Mostly.

"Ow! Wh-what?" Sveta asked after receiving a cold whack in the head. It jerked her awake, not that she had noticed she was falling asleep in the first place.

This was followed immediately by a pair of loud shattering sounds that attracted the attention of all the guards in the room. The other two ice balls had fallen to the floor, scattering over the surface and beginning to melt quickly.

"Aah! Umm, I'll get that," Rief said. "Uh, sorry." He waved his hand and gathered all of the dropped material together before snapping his fingers to banish it from existence. The guards cautiously went back to what they had been doing before.

"Yeah, you know what, Rief? Enough of that," Matthew said. "You okay, Sveta?"

She nodded. "Yes, thank you, I am..." She began to cough loudly.

Rief edged closer. "I think it's about time you got a quick checkup anyway, Svet. That doesn't sound too good," he said. "...Would've preferred if you stayed in bed for another day anyway, but..."

He closed his eyes and extended his hands. "The ice ball didn't do a whole lot. Still, sorry about that." A quick burst of psynergy healed whatever pain would still have been around, and prevented a bruise from forming. "As for the rest... you're getting over your fever and the infection's almost cleared up. Huh. That's a really impressive recovery speed. Normally it takes weeks, but even with an adept to speed the process, two days is almost mind-boggling."

Sveta laughed gently. "I do not FEEL much better, but thank you. As soon as we are done here I plan to return to bedrest, but this must come first. Every day we wait, more of my people die in a pointless war."

Matthew nodded. "I hope we CAN end this today. We haven't even heard anything about the war itself. For all we know, they could be at Belinsk by now."

Sveta's ears drooped and she folded her hands quietly.

"Uh, OR they could be winning!" Matthew hastily added. "Who knows? Maybe some rogue element has shown itself and turned the tide of the war! McCoy might end up BEGGING you for a cease-fire!"

Sveta smiled. "Thank you, Matthew. But... I would rather not get my hopes up for such a result."

A man entered the room as she finished speaking. "Thank you for waiting, Your Highness. Lord McCoy will be in to see you shortly."

The trio looked at each other. "Well, that was good timing," Matthew said.

The three of them stood, Matthew holding out a hand to help Sveta up, as a voice began to carry down the hallway.

"...No, we cannae afford to outfit the southern border guards with anti-Adept equipment! We need it on the front lines! Ask me again when Kalay begins sendin' us threats for war, boyo, then yeh'll have a case."

A large-ish man stepped through the entryway on the north side of the room, the one that the friends had not entered through. He was not extravagantly dressed, as one might expect for royalty, but he sported an impressive dark brown beard and had not a hair on his head. That subtle distinction helped make it clear for all observers for whom it was they were speaking to.

"McCoy the Second, at your service," the man said in an unusual accent. "Come, I'll show yeh the way to the meeting room."

The three began to walk after McCoy as he left the room. Several guards moved to follow, but he held up a hand. "I dinnae think that'll be necessary, they'll be trustworthy folk. Right?"

The three nodded with uncertainty. After all that, he would just dismiss his guards? Something was up.

McCoy smiled. "This way then, if yeh will."

As they fell into step, he looked at Sveta. "Might I ask what it was, then, that yeh came to speak with me for? Quite a risk, quite a risk indeed that was!"

Sveta nodded. "It was worth the risk, I believe. I come to speak with you regarding the war between our nations. My aim is to end it altogether, though a cease-fire would suffice. What are your feelings on the matter?"

McCoy blinked once, then twice. "You, but... I mean, yeh want to end it? Why would yeh want... uh..." He paused. "Right, right. A senseless war, 'tis. I'll tell yeh wot – uhm, I'll pull back my troops, you pull back yours... uh, and promise never ta fire that tower o' yours again, and we'll call it even. Deal?"

Matthew, walking beside Rief and behind McCoy and Sveta, flashed his girlfriend a thumbs-up when she turned to him with a look of genuine surprise on her face.

"Oh. Well... that was easy," Sveta said. "I admit I am skeptical, however. First of all, I would like to know why this war began in the first place. Our nations have never exactly been friends, but just a week ago a plan was in place for your ambassador to meet with us to discuss diplomatic concerns. Much has happened since then, and at some point war was apparently declared – I admit, the whole story is not clear to me – but now you are willing to end it again? What is going on?"

McCoy shrugged. "I, uh... 'tis not fully clear to me either, lass. P'raps you should ask the Prime Minister? Y'know, the man who took your place during yer leave of absence."

Sveta almost stumbled in her step. Matthew moved to catch her, but she gave him a look that said she would be okay. She turned to McCoy. "Alright, for one, my 'leave of absence' was a period during which I was kidnapped. For two, Prime Minister? What are you talking about?"

"Kidnapped?" McCoy shouted. "Why... why, they didn't – uh, dinnae tell me that! I... I assumed you had gone off, uh, hunting... or something- sommat..." He muttered a curse.

Matthew cleared his throat. "Uhm, Your Lordship, might I ask why you're talking like that? I heard from my parents that McCoy the First spoke in an odd accent, but it doesn't sound quite natural coming from you. Am I wrong?"

McCoy stopped and sighed. He pulled the three aside. "Okay, look," he said in hushed tones. "No, I don't really talk like that, but... it makes me sound more regal, y'know? People expected my dad's successor to have the same manner of speaking as him. It was his biggest identifying feature, other than the baldness and the beard," he said with a stroke of his facial hair. "The baldness is fake, too. My hairline has held up surprisingly well with age.

But... you were kidnapped? No one told me that. No one in the city has heard. Official word from Belinsk was that you were away from the castle indefinitely, and that they had elected a stand-in until your return."

"Elected?" Sveta said with a raised eyebrow.

"They, uh..." McCoy began, scratching his bald head. "They apparently asked the people who they wanted to lead. And then, uh, made the guy do it."

"What was the guy's name?" Rief asked.

"Fellow named Bentley," McCoy answered. Matthew and Sveta tried and failed to suppress laughter. "What, have you heard of him?" he asked.

Matthew waved away the question. "It's nothing, I'm sure he's fine."

Sveta smiled sincerely. "This is good news, I assure you. In more ways than one," she said with a meaningful glance at Matthew. "What of the war itself? I have heard nothing."

"I, uh... it's going, it's happening," McCoy said with a slight stutter. "There's been... combat, and... well, the results aren't the point. We're here to end it before it gets out of hand, right? Come on, we should really be in the meeting room for this." He hurried off.

Sveta gave Matthew a quick hug before skipping off to follow. Matthew raised a hand toward Rief, hoping for a high-five. But Rief didn't reciprocate.

"Something's not right here," the Mercury Adept said. "It seems like it's going too well, you know?"

Matthew laughed. "I never thought I'd say this, but you worry too much. Come on, we should catch up."

Rief started walking, but continued talking. "Well... McCoy the 2nd seems like an agreeable guy. He does his best to be liked, doesn't try to put anybody off. Why, then, would he start a war unprovoked like this? He never did answer Sveta's question, I noticed."

"You have a point," Matthew admitted. "But who knows? Either way, the war hasn't been on for long, and from the way he was avoiding the subject, it seems like it hasn't been the clean-sweep Sveta was rightfully dreading. Belinsk is holding their own."

"Or maybe Sveta's the last survivor of her race and McCoy doesn't feel like breaking the news to her?" Rief asked.

"Quit being such a pessimist. It doesn't suit you," Matthew answered as they caught up to Sveta and Lord McCoy.

"This is the door," McCoy said as they reached the end of the hallway. "Right through here, and we'll sign the papers to make it official-" His breath caught as he opened the door.

"What is wrong?" Sveta asked after a short silence.

"Oh, eh, nothing, lass!" McCoy said, resuming the use of his false accent. "I just dinnae expect Lady McCoy to make an appearance. What a pleasant surprise to see you here!" he said.

Inside the room, sitting on one of the long couches surrounding a central table, was a woman dressed in black. She had a long-sleeved coat overtop a pinstriped shirt and pants. Her hair was done up in a tight bun, and her eyes had a sharpness to them that cut right to one's core.

"Why, my lord, of course I would not miss such an important meeting. My husband needs his support, after all," she said, fingering the three-leafed clover emblem on the choker around her neck.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Apologies for people who felt that they'd been spoiled by the 2nd chapter of DoJ Extras, by the way. Maybe I should've put a disclaimer up there, but I would like to point out that if you look closely I don't actually verify much that's new. Yes, Matthew and Sveta get together, I think I mentioned that in the past. But aside from that, I did my very best to avoid stating anything outright. I do have several twists and turns in place by the time the story ends, and I took special care to avoid mentioning them (or even implying them). Hell, only six characters are even mentioned to be ALIVE for sure. Who knows? I could be planning to kill the entire rest of the team._

_I'm not planning to kill the entire rest of the team by the way. _

_Not all of them._


	35. Royal Flush

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"This is... worrying," Felix said, "but not altogether unexpected."

He stood, Mia slung over his shoulder and Karst floating a short distance behind him, before several hundred Tuaparang soldiers, all scattered throughout the airship landing bay. They were all hiding behind various forms of cover, some improvised and some designed for the purpose, and there were large nets spread over major troop concentrations – Felix recognized them as arrays designed to drain alchemical energy. None of them had been in place when he and Mia had arrived the day before; they were portable versions of similar systems Felix had seen elsewhere, such as those installed on all Tuaparang airships.

So he knew that while they would not be as effective as the impermeable shields, they would still provide more than enough protection against anything he could conceivably throw at them.

A loudspeaker crackled from somewhere in the mass of troops. "Stay where you are! The High Empyror has ordered you detained for crimes against the nation. If you resist, we will shoot. Put your hostage down and place your hands behind your head!"

"Hostage?" Felix said with a raised eyebrow. Still, he took several slow steps over to the nearest wall and placed Mia safely against it. "So I guess he wants to keep her around then, does he? Well, Mia, you might just get to let him use you like you wanted."

"Wait, you aren't just giving up, are you?" Karst asked. "That sounded kind of like giving up."

Felix shrugged. "Well, no, I'm not giving up. But if we fail here, there'll be no one to stop her from going back. I fully intend to fight to the end, but to be honest, it looks pretty bleak now."

"Liberty or death, then?" Karst asked as she floated forward. "I'll show _you_ death."

The loudspeaker blared again, its operator shouting something about getting down on the ground and submitting, but his last few words were drowned out by a high-pitched whine, getting higher and louder over the course of about a second. Then it reached its peak.

A massive explosion erupted just out of range of one of the psynergy nets. It was still close enough for the heat to roast the soldiers within its zone of protection. The net itself warped from the heat before sparking several times and overloading, creating a second explosion that caused enough panic for Karst and Felix to get out of the open. Felix dashed over and scooped Mia over one shoulder as he drew his sword with his other hand. Karst took flight and began to focus on the other arrays, detonating her psynergy far enough away that it could not be drained, but that the natural heat would still work to its full effect.

Every surviving soldier that wasn't running or cowering in fear had their weapons aimed at her. She was quick enough to dodge most of them, but she ended up with some minor cuts from close-calls. Before long, she dove back down to the ground, hiding behind the wreckage of the first net she had destroyed.

Felix took advantage of the distraction to stash Mia behind some boxes. He looped around, flanking a group of soldiers underneath a functioning net, and then dashed in to slice them to ribbons. He was already drained by his own sword; if it had been any other Adept, they might've been sent into shock from the sudden absence of psynergy, but he charged in like any other human, still physically enhanced by the contingent of djinn at his disposal.

He had to be more careful than before, though, he thought as he vaulted over a set of makeshift razor wire. Karst had half of the djinn that had been supporting him. Where he had previously been able to knock their projectiles out of the air, he now had to focus on simply not being shot at.

It was easier than it sounded, though, especially with Karst providing such an excellent distraction. Of the ten soldiers in the improvised entrenchment, only one of them even noticed he was there before finding a blade in their abdomen.

He disabled the net in place over his immediate area and grabbed Mia once more. He then turned his attention toward the airships still docked on the far end of the bay. They needed to grab one and destroy all of the others. It'd be hard to co-ordinate with Karst from all the way over here, though.

Another high-pitched whine filled the air. He ducked down as he felt a blast of heat from the next entrenchment over. Karst was still under fire, he realized; was she TRYING to draw attention for him, or was that just a side-effect?

It didn't matter. The important thing was to take down the nets. Once they – or rather, Karst, because Felix was drained and Mia was passed out – had freedom of psynergy, there was nothing that could be done to stop them.

He heard another explosion from further off. He peaked out from behind cover to see several soldiers running from the wreckage of an airship.

He cursed. Were they destroying their own ships to keep the adepts from using them to escape? Or was Karst just taking matters into her own hands?

Either way, it meant stepping matters up a notch.

Throwing caution to the wind, he dashed out of cover and charged toward the next set of unwary soldiers, hoping Karst would stop bombarding them long enough for him to do his work.

* * *

"So, what do we do, Karis? Kraden's out there, we need to help him, but..."

Karis fidgeted with her hands. "Well, he probably hasn't done anything wrong, but... do we really want to start a disturbance in this city?"

Tyrell growled. "Disturbance my ass! Kraden's in trouble, and I'm gonna help him!"

"Tyrell, wait-" Karis shouted, holding out a hand, but he had already rounded the corner and was marching toward the guards.

Karis watched Kraden and his assailants as Tyrell approached them. She could've sworn she saw Kraden mouth a curse.

"Hey! Let 'im go!" Tyrell shouted, unbuckling his axe. "What's he ever done to you, huh?"

Karis smacked her head against the wall and cautiously followed him out.

"This man is under arrest for harboring Adepts," the lead guard said. "Why? Are you an Adept sympathizer too?"

Karis gasped. Bilibin was hostile to Adepts? When did that happen?

_oh crap Tyrell's still here_

"Sympathizer? Heck no!" he shouted proudly. "I'm an Adept, born and raised! What, you got a problem with that?"

The guards looked at each other. Then they looked back at Tyrell.

One of them tossed a small object at him.

"Hey, wha-" he began as he stepped aside. It burst in midair next to him. What could only be described as a bright flash of darkness came forth; Tyrell dropped to the ground instantly.

Karis was close enough to feel the energy drain out of her, but she stayed conscious as she fell to one knee. The guards rushed forward, one of them placing Tyrell in handcuffs, the other trying to do the same to Karis.

She wobbled to her feet as the man approached. She drew her sword, trying her hardest to seem threatening. But the guard didn't even stop; he swatted her blade aside and punched her in the face. She spun to the ground.

"You don't go after an Adept sympathizer without the gear to handle psynergy," the guard said with a laugh. He bent down and took her sword, and then cuffed her as well. She felt her last vestiges of energy fade as the metal touched her skin.

As she faded into blackness, she felt herself being hoisted up. "Two more for the gallows," she heard faintly.

* * *

"Hello, Lady McCoy," Sveta began. She walked toward the woman sitting in the room. "I am Queen Sveta of Belinsk. I am pleased to meet you." She extended a hand to offer a shake in greeting.

Lady McCoy made no move to reciprocate. "Oh, I know who you are, beastwoman. The enemy of my nation, coming to beg for amnesty, is that right?"

Sveta let her hand drop. "I come to ask for an end to this pointless war. There is no need for our people to fight, and we have done nothing against you."

"Oh! Nothing?" Lady McCoy responded mockingly. "The Grave Eclipse was not 'nothing,' as you say. How could you think we would not retaliate for that attack? We lost hundreds of people in outlying cities. It's a good thing our intelligence network saw it coming, or the capital itself would not have been prepared."

Sveta growled. "You think that was an act of hostility on our part?" Her fists clenched. "Our nation is on its knees! If the activation of Luna Tower was intended to harm others, why would we be so affected by it?"

Lady McCoy rolled her eyes. "Obviously, you hate us so much that you're willing to sacrifice the lives of your own people to spite us."

Lord McCoy raised his hands as he walked toward the pair. "Now, now, let's... let's not get carried away, now! I was with these three with not a man to protect me, and they made no move-"

"Only because they wanted something from you, dear," the woman interrupted. "You were too lenient. I bet you just accepted the ceasefire right away, didn't you?"

Lord McCoy said nothing.

"He knows as well as I do that neither of our nations want any more blood!" Sveta shouted angrily, her fur bristling and her sharp teeth bared. "Any grievances you have can be settled here, between us. Diplomatically. Violence only begets more violence!"

The Lady smiled smugly. "Oh, but if we do not act, then we will be victims, will we not? For years, our crops have been ruined by some renegade earth adept. Our homes have been destroyed by a fire adept." She fingered the symbol on her choker once more. "And only recently did we discover the culprits! Would you believe the city continued to shelter them once we exposed the two for the villains they were? Such a shame. We took action, and now Bilibin is safe from wretched adepts like yourself."

Matthew stepped forward with a stern look on his face. "What city?" he asked.

"I'm sorry?" she replied innocently.

"The city you 'took action' against," Matthew specified. "What city was it?"

Lady McCoy laughed. "No, I understood the question. But I will not have a peasant such as yourself address me in that manner. Use your manners."

Matthew ground his teeth together. Sveta distanced herself from the woman to avoid punching her out of reflex.

"Lady McCoy, if you will," Matthew began, "What, pray tell, is the name of the city that you saw fit to devastate in order to get at two people who purportedly caused so many problems?"

"Oh, we didn't devastate the city! Far from it," she began. "We only eradicated the inhabitants who felt the need to shelter your kind. And it was Vault, by the way."

Rief's eyes widened. "Vault?" he said. "You... you destroyed Vault? But... Matthew, didn't your grandparents-"

"Yes," Matthew said sharply. "They did."

Lady McCoy laughed and stood up as she waved her hand in dismissal. "Oh, sure, but not anymore. Anyway, the matter of your tainted lineage is irrelevant. We are here to discuss the end to the war, are we not?"

Sveta folded her arms in defiance. "We have already discussed this with your husband. The decision is his, is it not?" she hissed.

"Oh, but my husband is not a negotiator!" Lady McCoy corrected. "And I am. And I advise him to let me do the talking. Will you, sweetheart?"

Lord McCoy began to stammer out a response, before he finally allowed himself to be silent. He stared at the floor defeat and nodded.

"Good. Step one," Lady McCoy began, "it will not be a cease-fire. It will be a surrender. That's an obvious one, right?"

Sveta's eyes narrowed. "...That is what I had expected, to an extent."

"Good, because you have no position to bargain from. Any leniency I extend to you is simply from the goodness of my heart." She reached into her robe and pulled out a small rod; with a flick, she turned it into a handheld fan and began to wave it at herself. "Your nation will become a part of Bilibin. Morgal will be no more. Your options are either that, or allow your half-human race to face the extinction it deserves."

Matthew walked over and took Sveta's hand as a sympathetic gesture. He knew this must be hard on her.

Lady McCoy was enjoying herself, though. As she spoke, she strutted around the room imperiously. "And that will not be all. You see, the people must be under no illusion as to their new rulers. That means the old line of leadership must be excised like the tumor it is."

Sveta's heart almost broke, but she steeled herself and took a breath. "That is fine. I had, in a sense, been planning to remove myself from the position of power anyway." She smiled at Matthew. "I had other concerns."

With a look of disgust, Lady McCoy glared at Matthew. "Right, the messenger said you had brought along your consort. I wasn't sure what to think when they both turned out to be proper humans. Most of us have standards."

Matthew put a protective arm around Sveta, but caught himself before he said something he would regret.

"So you would have me leave the throne behind. I am fine with that as long as you treat my people as you would your own. I will leave the country with Matthew, and we will not return. Is that fair?" Sveta asked.

Lady McCoy laughed. "Who said anything about leaving? Oh, no no, dear, you misunderstand. If you leave, your people will see you as a heroic figure. A resistance will form, and they will demand you at the head of it."

She snapped her fan shut and pointed it at Sveta. "What I ask – no, what I demand, as a condition of your surrender – is for nothing less than your public execution."

"Are you joking?" Matthew blurted out angrily. "She doesn't have to do a thing for you. You don't want to end the war? You don't have to. We'll march out of here and end it ourselves. We said we wanted to avoid bloodshed, but if you really want-"

"I accept," Sveta said with a shudder.

Matthew stopped mid-rant. He turned to look at her, horror showing on his face.

"If that is what it will take to keep my people safe," she continued, "then I accept."

She brushed Matthew's hand off of her shoulder and walked slowly forward, tears forming in her eyes.

* * *

Karst sat behind a pile of boxes, panting heavily. She was running low. That size of explosion, from that range, over and over again, was really taking its toll on her psynergy pool. She closed her eyes and tried her best to meditate, using a technique all Proxians learned from an early age.

She pictured a simple candle in the wind. The flame was low, and it flickered as the wind blew; but when the wind stopped, it was invigorated by the oxygen, burning even brighter than before. It was an apt metaphor for Prox itself. Its people had certainly grown stronger in adversity. And as an additional benefit, the calm the image brought upon people tended to be very useful for restoring psynergy. Proxians almost never truly "drained" themselves, and it was mostly due to meditation techniques like the candle.

She felt it sway, and swell, and sway, and swell. And before long, she was back to where she was before.

Then she heard an explosion. Looking out from the boxes she was hiding behind, she saw the wreckage of an airship. She hadn't done that. She had done her best to leave the airships alone until Felix could decide which to take. And Felix had no fire psynergy.

Scorched earth, she realized. That was their strategy. They were destroying their ships to deny them to the enemy. Prox loved that one, too. It was often literal in their case.

Where WAS Felix? She had lost track of him after the fighting began. If it had been her, then she would have gone to where she could deal as much damage as possible... but there was no one in the thick of combat out there. Then she remembered Felix was carrying that friend of his – Mia, she remembered, spitting in anger – so he would probably have tried to find shelter.

Karst risked taking to the air again. She conjured stones around several key locations and manipulated them to grant her a mockery of flight. When she rose above cover, she heard the _twang_ of dozens of bowguns. Reaching deep within herself, she launched another Fiery Blast into the air out of range of any of the nets. While she didn't cause any damage, it did serve two purposes; the first was that it forced the enemy soldiers to keep their heads down for just a moment, allowing her to get her bearings and scan the area for her beloved.

The second was that with all of that energy expenditure, she would be lit up like a peal of thunder to any Adept who could see her. Even if she didn't find Felix, he would see her, and potentially find a way to get her attention from there.

She looked around. There were about 5 different nets that were melted and destroyed, all by her hand. There were 7 remaining. Most of them were full of soldiers in various states of panic. But one caught her eye simply because it was nearly empty.

There were bodies on the floor of it, most fully armored. But one figure was in simple black cloth, her bright blue hair visible even from this distance. It must have been Mia. But if she was there, Felix must have left her – he'd have to be somewhere else. Mia actually had a slight glow about her; perhaps she was unconsciously trying to heal herself? Karst had no idea, but the glow meant psynergy, and psynergy meant the net was deactivated.

She began to look for her boyfriend in earnest when she was jerked out of her reverie by what felt like a slight tug. She realized that she had been distracted for too long; the soldiers had begun to fire again. Karst felt the fire burn within her as she unleashed another Fiery Blast, this one for effect, at the entrenchment closest to the airships. She dove down to Mia's hiding spot without observing the effects of her attack.

When she landed, she put a finger to the girl's neck. She was privately disappointed to find a pulse, but she shrugged. No use worrying about that now. Felix would be back any minute, and-

She noticed something out the corner of her eye as she lowered herself to sit.

An arrow, sticking cleanly through her right leg, bleeding not-insignificantly. How had she not felt that? Oh, she thought, rolling her eyes. Right. Not like a damaged leg would make much difference to her at this point.

But the blood loss might become a problem before long. She hoped Felix would get back soon.

* * *

"No, no, hold on," Matthew said, hurrying after Sveta. "This isn't funny, Sveta, you can't-"

"I can and I will," she said. "It is the only way."

"But... no, it isn't! What about... I... you... we..." Matthew stammered, unable to form a coherent sentence.

Sveta shook her head as a tear finally found its way out of her eye. "My people come before me, Matthew. That is how it must be."

"Do they come before me, too, Sveta?" Matthew asked. "Because I almost lost you once. Twice, if you count the Sanctum. I'm not letting that happen again. Not now, not ever."

The tears began to stream out in full force. "Matthew, I have to do this! I am sorry, I wish it was not necessary, but it is! If I do not, all of my people will die-"

"Hold on," Rief said.

Everyone in the room looked at him.

He adjusted his glasses, his eyes narrowed behind them. It was not quite anger. More... skepticism. "Belinsk was hit hard by the Eclipse. They were dead center and unprepared. They're down to just over a thousand people at last estimate, right?"

Sveta nodded. "Something in that range, yes."

"Well, how big is the Bilibin army? I seem to remember it actually being bigger than that."

Lady McCoy gave a predatory smile. "That's correct, of course. But, oh, you don't seem to be supporting your own side of the argument, are you?"

Rief shook his head. "That's not what I'm talking about. Belinsk can barely put an army together at all, and this war's been going on for... well, not long, but it wouldn't have to be. The invading army has greater numbers than the entire civilian population put together. It should be over already."

"What's your point?" the Lady asked, her smile fading.

"Well," Rief said, gaining a sudden burst of confidence, "it isn't."

Sveta's eyes widened. She brought a hand up to wipe away the tears. "He... he is right."

Matthew cocked his head. "About what? What's so great about that?"

Rief laughed. "If they aren't down and out already, that means they've figured something out. They have a trick up their sleeves."

Lady McCoy frowned angrily. Lord McCoy's expression remained neutral, but a glimmer of what could have been hope shone in his eye.

Rief extended a finger triumphantly. "You, Lord McCoy, unintentionally gave me a clue. I overheard you as you were coming into the room, talking about war matters. You said something about needing anti-Adept equipment on the frontlines." He closed his eyes and gave a smug smile as he adjusted his glasses once more, this time more for body language than for necessity. "I thought, well, Sveta is the only Adept they have, is she not? And if she's here, why would they need that equipment on the battlefield?"

Sveta felt hope welling up within her. "So... it's true then. They..."

"What?" Matthew asked. "I'm completely lost here, what's going on?"

Sveta looked up at Matthew, a wide, victorious smile on her face. "You remember the Apollo Lens? When it fired on Luna Tower and destroyed it?"

Rief nodded. "Kraden told me, before we parted, that a wave of psynergy like that didn't happen very often. The last time was the Golden Sun. But every time an Adept shows up anywhere, it's always in close proximity to a fount of the power, places like Imil, next to Mercury Lighthouse, or Vale, next to Sol Sanctum."

Sveta hugged Matthew tightly. "...I had suspected, of course. No one had found anything outright, as far as I know, by the time I left. But there were hints. Matthew," she said, "I believe that each and every resident of Belinsk is now an adept of some form."

"And that, Lords and Ladies," Rief said with a fluorish, "is the kind of thing they would need to turn the tide."

Lady McCoy gripped her rod in both hands, her knuckles white. "You have no proof," she said.

"You never actually planned to let the people of Belinsk live," Matthew said, his eyes clear in understanding. "They're Adepts. You knew it. You were going to have them rounded up and executed anyway after Sveta surrendered."

The woman snapped her rod open again and began fanning herself once more. "Now, why would I do that?" she asked. "They should have been begging for a proper leader. This 'democratic vote' thing they have will never work out for them. They're too indecisive. If they are left alone, they'll wipe themselves out." The fan snapped shut again. "Like they should have when their queen was kidnapped."

"Hold it!" Rief said, extending a finger once more. "How'd you know Sveta was kidnapped? The official word was that she had left temporarily. Even your husband didn't know."

Lord McCoy nodded. "Aye, 'tis true," he said, sweat dripping down his face.

Sveta put a hand to her chin. "How could you have found out? The only people that knew were myself, my friends, and... the Tuaparang."

"It's all coming together," Rief continued. "Funny how Bilibin suddenly had access to incredible technological wonders like this anti-Adept gear you keep going on about. Which, I might add, no one else has. Except, of course, for the Tuaparang."

Matthew smiled. "And it's funny how Bilibin apparently saw the Grave Eclipse coming... or, at least were prepared enough to be less affected by it than any other nation in the world, aside from the ones defended by the Warriors of Vale themselves."

"In my youth, I did not know much of political proceedings," Sveta added, "but I listened well enough. This hatred of Adepts is very, very recent. I cannot help but notice that it is directed at the very same group of people most capable of defending if Tuaparang decided to extend their reach?"

Lady McCoy was sweating heavily by this point. Her teeth were bared, and a hair had fallen out of place on her head. One hand was fidgeting with the choker around her neck.

Rief snapped his fingers. "Now I get it. That's an interesting design on your choker, Lady McCoy. I feel like I've seen it before. A three-leafed clover, is it?"

"It's... yes," she replied. "That's it."

"Not four?" Rief asked. "Four implies luck. Three is simply a common clover. You don't strike me as the kind of person who considers herself 'common.'"

"Th-that's because... I don't need luck!" Lady McCoy stammered. "That's right. It's a three-leafed clover, and I don't need four because superior folk like myself can get by on talent alone."

Rief shook his head and shrugged his shoulders, his hands outstretched and a smug smile on his face. "I'm afraid I don't buy that. In fact, I can tell you exactly where I've seen that before."

His smile vanished and he jabbed a finger in Lady McCoy's direction a third and final time. "That's the symbol of Clubs, the fourth suit in the Minor Arcana! You, Lady McCoy, are no mere figure of royalty!"

Matthew laughed and put his hands on his hips. "You're a general of the Tuaparang, aren't you? Now, I'm curious about this. Does your husband know?"

Lord McCoy scratched his head. "What's a 'Tuaparang?'" he asked absentmindedly.

Lady McCoy smiled. She held the rod in one hand, and with the other, opened her coat slightly to return it to an inside pocket. "You're right. Lady McCoy is simply one name I hold. The other..."

Her hand whipped back out, and a flash of metal came with it, flying forth toward the group.

Four kunai landed in a perfect square around Matthew and Sveta where they stood.

In a split second, a brilliant arc of electricity shot from each of the handles and into the pair. They cried out in pain as the confidence vanished from Rief's visage.

"...Is Caudgel, the fourth general of the Tuaparang," she said. "All hail the High Empyror." She smiled evilly. "Death to all who oppose him."

Sveta collapsed to the ground. Matthew, through great force of will, remained standing for a moment, then fell to his knees. Before he lost consciousness completely, he managed to push Sveta out of the deadly square.

The smell of burn fur hung in the air. Matthew twitched a few more times. "Rief..." he managed to choke out, his voice raw from screaming, "run!"

He passed out and convulsed several times as the kunai finally ran themselves dry.

Rief conjured a blast of ice as he turned to run for the door. Lady McCoy – Caudgel – stood motionless, but her eyes remained focused on the boy.

Just before the ice hit her, her choker glowed brightly. The ice vanished instantly, its constituent energy dispersed. She tossed several more of her projectiles at him, but he turned the corner and left right before they struck.

"Damn," she said. "Almost had him. Two is enough, I suppose."

Lord McCoy was hyperventilating. "Who... how?"

"Relax, my Lord," Caudgel said to him in a calming tone. She gave him a disarming smile as she retrieved her fan from her coat. "Your nation is safe. Belinsk will fall in due time. Once they find their leader has been executed, their morale will fail and they will submit to us as they should have from the beginning."

McCoy sputtered as he looked at the two slightly charred figures barely breathing on the floor. "I... they..." He gulped loudly. "I'm glad you're on MY side," he said.

Caudgel gave him a tight hug. Behind his back, she flipped her fan back into rod form. It played between her fingers as she spun it deftly.

When she gripped it in one hand again, its other function was revealed as the blade of the butterfly knife extended from one end.

"I never really was," she said as she plunged it straight into his back.

McCoy coughed once. Some blood splattered onto Caudgel's shoulder. He collapsed when she let go of him, pulling the blade from his back and hiding it within the rod once more.

"You got blood on my suit," she said with some disgust. "I just had this washed."

She readjusted her hair and brushed some dust off of her coat. She took a deep breath.

"Help! Help! My husband is dead, Lord McCoy is dead!"

As the guards rushed into the room, she pointed at Matthew in feigned anguish. "H-he's the one! He stabbed him, with that sword of his! M-my husband... he's dead, and... oh my!" She burst into well-practiced tears.

The lead guard pointed to Matthew and Sveta. "Grab them, take them to the dungeons!" He looked at his Lady and shook his head sadly. "I am sorry we were not here. What are your orders?"

Caudgel sniffled. "Th-they must be executed at dawn's first light, tomorrow." She buried her face in her hands. "With my husband gone... that means I lead the city, do I not? Oh, I am not ready for such a responsibility!"

The guard knelt down on one knee. "My Lady, every soldier in my ranks, and every man, woman and child in this city, owes their allegiance to you. You have our support in any decision you make."

"I know," she replied as she wiped her eyes. "I know."

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Hopefully the length of this makes up for last week. Hopefully I didn't fill it with too many references, either. See if you can count them!_

_Reviews and feedback are always desired. Be honest! This is sort of a reveal chapter, and I did my best to point out all of the hints I've been leaving to this point about Lady McCoy's identity. If you don't get some of my logical leaps then tell me and I'll do my best to clear it up (both by editing the chapter and by responding). If you flat-out don't like anything, I want to know too. I'm not JUST doing this because it's a blast to write, you know._

_If anyone doesn't hate Lady McCoy by the end of the first segment then I haven't done my job well either, so please tell me if you're still ambivalent halfway through._


	36. Wherein the Author Apologizes in Advance

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"Damn, damn damn damn DAMN DAMN DAMN!"

As Rief ran through the courtyard, his mind was a wreck. He had left them behind. _He had left them behind._ How could he leave them behind? They were his friends, he had a chance to save them, and he didn't even know if they were still alive! He should've stayed, should've tried to fight that woman hand-to-hand... but she would've won, and then no one would have been able to run and get the word out.

He quickly threw down a staircase of ice, ran overtop of it, leaped over the palace walls, and banished his escape route from existence to slow pursuit. He landed hard on the road, but got back to his feet and kept running. He could stop when he found Karis and Tyrell.

He ran down the streets, going down alleyways and sidestreets at random to shake any chance of pursuit. How would he be able to find two random people in the middle of this huge city? He'd have to-

WHAM.

He turned a corner a little too sharply and bumped into a young girl about his age who had been running in the opposite direction. Rief landed flat on his butt and the girl landed on hers.

As the stars cleared from his vision, Rief took in the sight of her. Her long, brown hair fell around her shoulders, kept out of her face by a green bandana the same color as her modest dress. She was reasonably thin, though not to the point of malnourishment, and as she gingerly rubbed herself where she had landed, Rief had to tear his gaze away from her shapely hips. She opened one eye - a bright green color, made even more striking in conjunction with her clothing - and she looked at Rief with a pleading expression, as if to say that she'd had a rough day, could he PLEASE not make it any worse?

"Uh... wow..." Rief said, dumbstruck. He blinked twice, and then shook his head to bring himself back to reality. "I mean, sorry! I'm in a hurry! Didn't mean to bump into you, carry on with your day!"

As Rief stood, the girl remained seated, but a glimmer of recognition came upon her face. "Wait a second... I know you!"

"Nope, don't think you do!" Rief corrected as he brushed off his robes.

"At the marketplace! You were-"

"In a hurry! Gotta run!" Things were just getting worse and worse-

"WAIT!" the girl cried. "Please, wait, I'm not going to... you're... you're one of the ones who makes ice, right? That means you're a healer, too?"

Rief stopped, against his better judgment. "...Fine, yes, that's right. I'm him. Now can I have five minutes before you call the guards on me?"

The girl shook her head. "No, that's not what I mean! Please, my brother... he hurt himself, and I was running to the doctor, but he needs help NOW, and... I beg of you, please come with me!"

Rief bit his lower lip. He had to help Matthew and Sveta, and he had to tell Karis and Tyrell that they weren't safe... and this could easily be a trap; what guarantee did he have that this "injured brother" actually existed?

He squeezed his eyes shut. "How far?" he asked. He was going to regret this, he knew it.

The girl smiled brightly. "Just... just this way, thank you so much, I promise I won't tell anyone!"

Rief helped her to her feet and let her lead the way. He was glad he had spent so much time with Tyrell and the others – a year ago, he would never have been able to keep up this pace. Chasing an over-excitable crew to keep them out of trouble paid for itself, apparently.

* * *

Felix was surprised to see Karst in the dugout when he returned from disabling another troop concentration. He smiled in relief, but got straight down to business. "Did you do that?" he asked, pointing to the wrecked airship.

Karst shook her head. "No, that was them. I didn't know if there was a specific one we had to steal, or-"

"Cripes, Karst!" Felix suddenly shouted. "There's an arrow in your leg!"

Karst rolled her eyes. "I noticed, thank you! I can't feel it, at least, so it won't-"

"Okay, that's a relief. We need to get to one of the ships before they manage to destroy them all-"

"STOP INTERRUPTING ME!" she cried. "Yes, thank you, that much is obvious! Can we just grab any airship, or is there one you're looking for?"

Felix shook his head. "Any one of them will do."

"Can you pilot them?" Karst asked, "Or will we need to find a pilot and encourage him to work with us?"

"I've got it. A pilot would be vastly preferable, but I can do it if necessary, and I think it will be-"

"Shut up, no time," she said. "I'm bleeding a lot. Your friend, Mia. When will she wake up, and will she be willing to help me?"

Felix shrugged. "I don't know, last time I knocked her out this way I revived her by taking her to a lighthouse beacon. Pretty sure the unconsciousness is caused by a lack of psynergy, so I think it can fix itself on its own, but I don't know-"

"Don't care. Will she be willing to help me?"

"Maybe," Felix said with a sigh. "Probably. The Empyror got at her, and he used his weird manipulation abilities to-"

"JUST ANSWER MY QUESTIONS. I've been asleep for 20 years, I have an arrow through my leg, and-" BOOM. "-and I don't want to be stuck on this godforsaken flying city! I'm a little cranky! So tell me what I ask and nothing more!"

Felix nodded silently.

"Okay," Karst said more calmly. "I think we've thinned their numbers enough to make a run for it. Can you carry Mia?"

"Yes."

"Good. You run for the closest ship, I'll follow you. I'll do my best to distract them until you reach cover."

Felix shook his head. "No, you're already hurt. I'm not letting you risk-"

"Just trust me! Can you do it?"

"Now?"

"_Yes!_"

"Going," Felix said as he scooped up Mia and sprinted out into the open.

"No, not... ugh, FINE," Karst said.

Alchemical power welled up within her as she took to the skies. She fired off explosion after explosion, trying to draw the soldiers' attention, or at least get them to keep their heads down. As a finale, she reached deep within herself and let loose with the same power she had accidentally used earlier in the hallway. Massive vines suddenly erupted from the floorboards, terrifying onlooking warriors despite the fact that they stopped growing before coming anywhere near the nets. They grew thicker and thicker until Karst was satisfied that they might be able to block some bowgun fire. Then, nearly exhausted, she used the last of her energy to launch herself at the airship Felix was running to.

Her psynergy was completely tapped by the time she reached it, and the conjured stones she was using to keep herself up vanished all at once. Luckily for her, Felix saw her, and as she fell toward him, he sheathed his sword and caught her with a free arm.

"Nice job," she said breathlessly.

"Thanks," he answered. "Have you got anything left in you?"

She sighed. "I will by the time we take off again. Can we destroy the other ships from the air?"

Felix cringed. "I'd rather not fly any longer than I have to... but yes. Yes we can."

He laid her down on one side of the passenger compartment and put Mia down on the other. He took several deep breaths to steady himself before walking into the cockpit. He went through the flight checks that he remembered doing just once before, hoped that he had gotten it all right, and gunned the engines. As his stomach dropped out from beneath him, he prayed fervently that he wouldn't throw up during the flight.

"You good?" he shouted back. The door at the back of the passenger compartment remained open so that Karst had a clear view.

"Just one second!" she shouted back. She extended her hands outward. Felix heard a series of explosions, one after the other, before Karst's hands finally dropped again. "I think we're good, you can close the door now!"

He hit the button to seal the compartment. The door slowly raised again, and as the wind stopped rushing in his ears, he let out a sigh of relief. He spun the craft to look at the airship dock – Karst had done her job well. There was wreckage everywhere, and Tuaparang soldiers were coming out of their hiding spots to examine the damage. A few took potshots at the airship itself, but the rest knew it was pointless. Felix and his team had escaped.

"We're safe now?" Karst asked.

Felix gunned the engines and willed his stomach to cease its complaining. "Yup. I'll stop talking now," he said.

Karst nodded. "Okay, sounds good. I'm gonna... just lie down for a bit. Feeling tired. Wake me when we reach... wherever."

"Bilibin," Felix said quickly. "We're taking down the last general, weakening the Empyror's hold on the mainland. Won't be long." He paused. "Karst?"

He risked a glance backward. She was sprawled across several seats, her legs hanging limply over the edge. There was a small puddle of blood beneath her right leg, and he could tell from the drops running down her leg that it wasn't getting any better.

"Oh, no," he said. "Oh, no, no, no no no..."

* * *

"So, how bad is it?" Rief asked as he entered the girl's house.

"It's bad, it's really bad..." she said. "He fell out of a tree, and I wasn't watching because I was hanging out the laundry, and-"

"What about your parents? Weren't they around? You look about my age, and I wouldn't even be on my own if not for a few fun coincidences."

The girl bit her lip. "Can we not talk about that, please? This is-"

She was interrupted by a loud cry of pain upstairs. "That's him!" she said. "Please, come up and help, I'm begging you!"

Rief took one last look at the door. If this was a trap, this was his last chance to step out of it. He gritted his teeth and walked upstairs. If he was going down, he'd prefer it to be in the process of trying to help someone.

He walked into the room that the shouting was coming from. Sure enough, on the bed on the other side of the room was a young boy of about 12. Tears were streaming down his face and his mouth was a contorted grimace of pain.

His leg had about an inch of bone sticking straight out of it. Blood surrounded the wound area.

"Puncture fracture," Rief said with a gasp. "Not fun to have. But the good news is, I have experience with this sort of thing."

"Th-thank you," the girl said.

Rief ran up to the boy and put his hands on either side of the wound. He let out a pulse of psynergy and the boy's sobs lessened somewhat.

"Do you still feel it?" Rief asked.

The young boy sniffled. "It... it feels weird, all cold..."

Rief nodded. "I just numbed the pain for now. It'll make it easier to do what I have to do. You'll be better in no time, trust me. But, uh... you may want to look away. It wouldn't hurt to cover your ears either."

He turned to the girl. "The same goes for you, miss...?"

"Umm, Madeline," she said with a hint of uncertainty. "My friends call me Maddie. My brother's name is Roger."

"Rief's my name," he responded. "Nice to meet you, Maddie. Watch if you like, but it might be a little painful to look at. Roger, are you ready?"

The boy nodded, his eyes shut. He clamped his hands over his ears.

Rief took a deep breath. "Alright, three... two..."

He snapped the boy's leg further.

Maddie gasped "No, what are you-!"

"Give me a minute!" Rief interrupted. He grabbed the piece of bone that was sticking out and gave a sharp tug. When it didn't come, he snapped it again. It came loose and tore a bit more skin on the way out. The boy must've heard the sickening noises in the end anyway; he let loose a pathetic whimper with every crack and tear.

With the offending shard of bone removed, Rief set the leg out straight and poured all of his psynergy into healing magic. He let it go with the natural flow of the boy's body; it found the pattern of his growth, matched the bone as it had once been, and slowly rebuilt the missing parts, mending it bit by bit. It sealed off the broken blood vessels, stopping the bleeding instantly before sewing new veins and arteries in place. The skin began to regrow over the gaping wound, and in seconds the boy's leg was back to perfect condition. There was not even a scar to show that damage had occurred.

Rief tapped Roger on the shoulder. "It's alright, I'm all done," he said.

The boy sat up and opened his eyes hesitantly. He gasped in horror as he saw the bloody shard of bone still lying on the floorboards, but before long his attention was drawn to his leg, mended miraculously.

"It'll still feel numb for a while," Rief said, "but it should work perfectly. If you want, you can get up and walk around, but after that I recommend lying down just so your body can get used to the new tissue."

He turned to Maddie. "How was that?"

Her face was completely pale. "I... I feel sick..."

Rief frowned. "Yeah, that's why I recommended that you didn't watch it." He put a hand on her shoulder, partly as a comforting gesture, and partly to give her a boost of psynergy to wash away the nausea.

A smile slowly came back to her face. "That's... that's incredible, thank you so much!" She threw her arms around Rief in excitement.

Rief blushed and returned the hug carefully. "Wow, uh... thanks. I mean, you're welcome. It's no trouble, I had to do that with my friend Eoleo's rib once, and he asks me never to use the numbing spell."

Maddie held Rief out at arm's length. "Eoleo? You don't mean the Pirate King of Champa, do you?"

Rief avoided eye contact and coughed into his hand. "I, uh... last time I saw my friend Eoleo, he was not a Pirate King, no."

"Oh, good. I was worried we were thinking of the same person," she said with a sigh. "I knew you were different... you know, from what they say... yesterday in the marketplace, when everyone went after you, you could have killed them easily. But instead you just slowed everyone down, and... and you saved your friend, too!"

Maddie clasped her hands together. "My brother and I were in that marketplace," she said, "and if you were really as bad as the people say, we wouldn't be here right now."

Rief nodded and smiled. "Well... thanks. I, uh, do my best."

"So... are all of you nice people? Adepts, I mean?" she continued. "The city guards round your kind up whenever they're found, and they do the same to anyone who tries to keep you safe. It's horrible."

"Adepts are just people like you and me," Rief said. "Well, uh, like you, I mean. And everyone else in the city. Some are good, some are bad. But I have a lot of friends who are Adepts, and we all do our best to do the right thing for people. I don't mean to brag, but... the world probably wouldn't be quite as well-off as it is if not for us, and for our parents."

Roger rolled over and began to nap, so Maddie motioned for Rief to follow her out of the room. She closed the door behind them. "I... I feel terrible, now... I listened to them when they said all Adepts are evil, and I thought such nasty things about your kind... B-but I never turned anyone in! I promise!"

As they went downstairs, Rief decided to press for some information. "Have you seen any others recently? Other than me, I mean. And my beastwoman friend that you saw in the marketplace."

"Oh yeah, her..." Maddie said sadly. "Is she your girlfriend or something?"

Rief laughed out loud. "Oh, GOSH no! She's seeing my friend Matthew. Also, she's royalty. She's too good for a simple guy like me."

"So you're more into simple girls?" she said, playing with her hair. "Hmm... that's good to know!"

"I don't mean to press the issue, but you said you'd tell me about your parents," Rief asked, oblivious. "Where are they?"

Maddie stopped playing with her hair. "They... they've been gone for weeks now. They left to visit friends in a different city. That was before the Eclipse. They never came back."

"I'm... I'm sorry to hear that," Rief said.

"They went to visit some friends of theirs. Adepts, in fact. When they vanished... I blamed them. I thought they had done it. But now I know you, and I know that couldn't be what happened." Maddie began to tear up. "Perhaps it was the monsters... they might have been caught off-guard. No one has heard from anyone in the town in ages."

Rief cringed, knowing what would come next. "What's the name of the town your parents went to?"

"Vault," she said. "Why, do you know the name?"

Rief clenched his fists. "Yeah... yeah, I do," he said. "Thanks for telling me, Maddie. I'm sorry to bother you."

"It was no bother! None at all!" she said quickly. "Thank you so, so much for helping my brother, Rief..." She took his hand and held it tightly. "I owe you a debt of gratitude. If you ever need a place to stay, or... or to hide, then..."

Rief smiled politely. "Thank you, but I don't think I'll be in this city for much longer. I'm looking for a few friends, and once I find them we'll go about our business."

"Oh..." Maddie said sadly. "It was nice meeting you, Rief. If you're ever in town again... stop by, okay?"

Rief but a hand to his chin. "Actually, have you seen them or heard of them, maybe? I'm looking for three friends. One of them's Kraden, he's an old guy, small glasses, long white beard. Another one is Karis, she's a cute green-haired girl, a little bossy. The last one's Tyrell, he's a big guy-"

"...Reddish brown hair, big muscles, right? Bushy eyebrows?" Maddie said slowly. "...Yeah. Yeah, I've seen them. They were..."

"They were what?"

She gulped. "They were being led to the palace in chains less than an hour ago."

Rief felt his legs turn to jelly. His hands dropped limply at his sides.

"...So I'm already too late..." he said quietly. "I... I'm sorry, Maddie. Thanks for your hospitality, but... I should be going. I don't know where, but... somewhere."

She grabbed his arm as he turned to leave. "Your friends will be executed at dawn, Rief, that's how it always works! You still have time, and I know where they're being kept, and..." She hesitated. "You could... you could stay here for dinner while you plan the prison break..."

Rief looked into her eyes, and she looked hopefully back into his. "Thank you," Rief said. "I think I just might, actually. That's very kind of you to offer. I know how big of a risk this must be for you-"

Maddie shook her head. "It's worth it," she said. "You helped my brother, and... and you seem like a good person, is all!"

She gestured to the table and chairs set up in her kitchen. "Wait here, I'll be back in a minute. I'll see what I can find to help you," she said.

* * *

The first thing Karis noticed as she woke up was the cold spreading through her arms.

It was mostly centered around her wrists, but there was a general chill up and down the length. She tried moving her arms, and all she heard was a jingle; she realized that they were being held straight up in the air, and when she tried to pull them down, they wouldn't budge.

She opened her eyes. It took a moment for them to adjust to the darkness. She was in a small room, stone walls behind her and steel bars going up and down where all other walls would be. The stone was damp beneath her, and she heard the sound of a skittering rodent somewhere in the distance. Her hands were shackled above her, and when she inspected the ceiling, she saw an odd crisscross pattern of purple running its length.

She was in prison.

"Dammit, Tyrell..." she muttered under her breath.

She heard a whispy, airy sound coming from nearby. "Who is there? Matthew? Please, Matthew, be alive..." This was followed by several sharp coughs.

Karis banged her head against the wall. Of all the people to be imprisoned next to...

"No, Sveta, it's me, Karis. Negotiations didn't go so well, I take it?" she said to the darkness. She couldn't see well enough yet to identify anything beyond her cell.

"...Karis? They got you too... oh, dear, I am so sorry," Sveta said weakly. "I wish... I wish I had never been so foolish. What about the others? I do not remember being brought here, I have seen no one."

Karis tugged at her shackles, testing their strength. They seemed solid. "They got Kraden and Tyrell, too. Tyrell's actually the guy who got us into this mess. We found some guards who had picked up Kraden, accusing him of sheltering Adepts, and of course the goof decides to take the straightforward approach. They were ready for us."

There was a pause. "Have you seen Rief? Or... Matthew?" Sveta asked gently. She followed this up with more wet-sounding coughs.

"Afraid not. Why? You worried about your precious boy-toy?" Karis said harshly. Sure, she had promised to set aside her issues, but she wasn't going anywhere for a while. No time like the present to bring them into the open.

Sveta ignored the barb. "Lady McCoy... she is the fourth general of the Tuaparang, Karis," she said. "She attacked us. Matthew and I were caught inside one of their electric traps. Rief was not, but... the last thing I remember is Matthew pushing me out of the way." She sniffled. "I do not know if he made it out safely."

Karis felt her heart tear in two. Matthew might be gone? And it was all to save Sveta?

"Well..." Karis said hesitantly, "I'm sure he's okay. Matthew's a tough guy. He can handle a little, uh, electrocution. How about you? Are you holding on over there?"

Sveta coughed. "I... I think so," she said. "It still hurts, though. I would like very much to see Rief right now." Another sniffle, another cough. "Almost as much as I would like to see Matthew alive and well..." Sveta muttered.

Karis rolled her eyes. "Oh, SUCK IT UP, Princess! We can't all have what we want." A glint of light caught her eye. It couldn't be...

There was a set of keys hanging on a hook just outside her cell. She could barely believe her luck. Who honestly put the keys to a prison right outside of a prison cell? "Hold up for a moment," she said. "I think I can get us free."

She felt the wind blowing within her as she sent a puff of psynergy out to the keychain against the wall. They lifted, but fell back against the hook with a clatter.

Then the pattern on the ceiling glowed a bright purple. Karis heard a loud yelp to the right of her, just before she felt a dull pain in her chest. All of the energy was sucked out of her. She cringed. "Okay... not gonna do that again." Of course they'd have some protection like that in a cell designed to store Adepts for death row.

"I would appreciate that," Sveta said. "That was... far from comfortable."

Karis groaned. "I was so close, too. The keys for the cell, and probably for these shackles, are right up there on a hook. I might be able to blow them down if I try hard enough. Do you want to give it a shot?"

"No," Sveta said. "Not if it will do THAT again. I would rather not experience that ever again."

Karis laughed. "You can't be serious," she said. "You're whining about a little pain? They're going to hang us, Sveta! It's either pain or death! What would you prefer?"

A pause. "Pain, I suppose," Sveta said. "It is important that we escape and spread the word about Lady McCoy's identity."

"Sounds good. It seems like there's a good half-second before the psynergy draining mechanism kicks in. Maybe if I fire a strong and short burst..." Karis closed her eyes and gathered all of the psynergy within her that had built up since she last tried.

"Wait, what are you-"

A roar of wind, a jingle of keys. A clatter. "Dammit! Missed again," Karis said. A purple glow.

The pain was much stronger this time. Karis cried out in pain. Sveta cried louder.

"AAAAAUUUUUUGH! AAaaaahhh... Karis, PLEASE do not do that again! Please!"

Karis breathed heavily. "Oh, stop whining," she said, panting. "I almost had it. You've been through worse, haven't you? That was nothing." Her chest still stung, but after everything else she had experienced with her friends – ice storms, fire-breathing beasts, poisonous stings – this was more than tolerable.

Sveta coughed, harder this time. "I... ugh... it hurts..." A pair of yellow eyes pleaded in the darkness. "My skin is still burned... and my lungs still ache... and my head is so, so warm..."

Karis laughed derisively. "Oh, poor baby. I'd offer you a backrub, but I'm afraid we're both fully clothed."

There was a short silence.

"Karis... are you still jealous about Matthew and I?" Sveta struggled to ask clearly. "I am sorry to have hurt your feelings as such, but it is not my fault. It is not his fault, either. It just happened."

"I've had my eyes on him for longer than you've even known him, fuzzy!" Karis snapped. "It's... it's just not fair that the first time I find out he isn't available, he's already all INTIMIATE and stuff! It was just... ugh!" She shuddered.

"I am sorry for that!" Sveta replied. "I was not myself. I regret that whole experience. It was deeply embarrassing to me."

"Yeah, to me too," Karis said. "Now hold on, I'm giving it another try." There was a roar as the wind began to blow.

"Karis wait please I would MUCH RATHAAAAAAHHHHHH! NOOOOHRRRRRURUUOOooo..." Sveta's scream devolved into a guttural howl. When the glow died down, there was a series of whimpers, followed by light sobbing.

Karis willed the pain away. "Don't be such a baby, Sveta!" she said. "I can take it, and you're way stronger than I am. Now quit crying, and maybe you can help me a little!"

"P-please... no more..." Sveta said, crying. "It... it makes it dark, and... and empty... and..."

"Yeah, Svet, we're in a prison. Prisons are like that," Karis said. "I think I got the keys off the hook that time, too, so that's good news. I just need it a little... closer." The wind picked up again.

"Please no wait NOAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! ..."

"What the hell was that?" Karis asked. "Did you just shapechange on me?"

A whimpering bark came from the darkness. "Why, Karis, why are you doing this, please, it makes me feel so... not myself... it hurts, and it's scary, stop it, please..."

Karis hesitated. "Sveta... are you okay? As much as I hate you right now, I don't know what's going on. Is it worse over there or something? I mean, I'm taking a beating, but-"

"Oh, Karis, it's horrible, stop doing it, I am so sorry about Matthew, take him, do what you want just _let me die please end the pain..._"

Karis felt her breath catch in her throat. "It's... it's really that bad?"

"I did not mean it, I am sorry, please Karis, we were friends, why are you doing this, it _hurts so much, let it stop..._"

Karis gasped as she realized what was happening. "Sveta? Are... are you okay?"

She looked to her right toward where Sveta lay sobbing. There was a slight sheen to certain parts of the floor that did not exist around Karis. Sveta coughed, and another section of the floor appeared slick.

Tears began to well up in Karis's eyes. "Oh, gods... Sveta, you're coughing up blood... I... oh, gods..."

"...please make it stop, please... just don't... don't make me..."

Karis shivered, not from the cold dampness, but from the realization of what she had been doing. She knew she was causing Sveta pain. And worse, she had been enjoying it. Was that really what her jealousy had done? If she hadn't noticed...

Karis started to cry. "Oh, Sveta, please, please forgive me! I didn't mean to hurt you so badly, I just... please tell me you're going to be okay, that you're still breathing."

She heard a sniffle to her right.

"...Make it stop..." Sveta said weakly. "...please..."

Karis let herself go limp. There was no way she would put the poor girl through that again. Something else would have to save them. Something...

Her heart skipped a beat. The keyring was right there. It was right near her foot. Karis stretched as far as she could, trying to reach the ring with a toe, even just one...

And she kicked it by accident.

There was a light jingle as it moved just out of reach.

If only it could be a little closer...

Karis died just a little inside. She cried in anguish, tears dripping down her face.

"I'm sorry, Sveta..." she said. And the wind began to howl.

"No... nonopleasePLEASEAAA-"

* * *

Matthew's world was a blur. He couldn't tell up from down, left from right. It was too dark for him to see. His eyes wouldn't focus anyway.

"H... hello?" he said to the darkness. "Sveta? Rief? Anyone?"

"Matthew!" Tyrell shouted triumphantly. "You're okay! Man, I was worried for a bit! You aren't looking too good."

Matthew laughed. It made his chest hurt. "Yeah... probably... have you seen...?"

"Sveta?" Tyrell anticipated. "Nope, afraid not. Karis got taken too, by the way. And Kraden. We're supposed to be executed, I think. Assuming we don't get out first, of course."

"Lady McCoy... Tuaparang..." Matthew breathed. He could barely talk. He had no strength in his limbs. It was taking all of his will simply to stay conscious. "Gotta... gotta get help..."

"She's Tuaparang? Weird," Tyrell said. "Wouldn't have seen that coming."

A faint scream echoed from somewhere else in the prison. Midway through, it became a bestial howl, and then it became a scream again. Matthew's heart began to race. "That's... that's her... We gotta, gotta get out... and help."

Matthew saw Tyrell's teeth flash in the darkness. "Not to worry! It just so happens that there's a set of keys on a hook just outside my cell. I can probably knock it loose with a big enough fireball. If I can only... just..."

"No..." Matthew began. "Prison... for adepts... gonna have some-"

He felt a massive wave of heat and heard some collapsing rubble.

"Damn, I missed!" Tyrell cursed. "Oh well, I can try-"

The ceiling glowed bright purple in a strange crisscross pattern.

As Matthew felt the darkness begin to take him once more, he gathered the strength for one last statement.

"Tyrell... you dumbass..."

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_I am so so so so so so so so so so so so sorry about Sveta, you have no idea. It was physically painful to write that. I had to stop a couple of times just to get through it. It'll be for the best... I hope._

_Cripes, I'm giving this chapter a quick reread and it seems like all the brutality in the story was clumped together into this one tiny space. First Karst with the arrow through the leg, then Rief's weird surgery, then Sveta with... oh dear. Okay, I promise it'll get better next chapter. Ugh. Is it weird that I feel so terrible for being mean to a fictional character? Like, not even that, for being so mean to MY OWN INTERPRETATION of a fictional character?_

_oh my gosh I'm a terrible person_


	37. Biggest Fan

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Rief stared slack-jawed. "Umm, do you need any help with those?"

"No thanks! I've got it!" Maddie responded. She dumped the pile of rolled-up scrolls unceremoniously onto the kitchen table. Several rolled off onto the floor, and she tried unsuccessfully to catch them. When she leaned down to pick them up, several more rolled off. "Oh dear..." she said.

Rief walked to the table and opened a scroll at random. "Is this a map?" he asked.

She nodded. "My dad was an architect. He worked on some of the renovations for Bilibin Palace... including, umm, the dungeons, sadly. T-to be fair, he opposed the decision to put in psynergy traps!"

"Psynergy traps?" Rief asked with a raised eyebrow.

"That's why it's safe to put Adepts in there," she answered. "You guys cast a spell, and poof, it drains you dry! It's horrible and everything but the only other option they would allow was to put in shackles that do the same thing, only all the time, and that might kill people which isn't what a prison is for-"

"Oh, gosh..." Rief said slowly. "I really, REALLY hope Sveta doesn't try to use psynergy to escape, then. Beastmen are vulnerable to that sort of thing. A few days ago she just LOOKED at a psynergy vortex and her immune system shut down for a while."

Maddie nodded with confidence. "Then you'll just have to be a hero and set all your friends free, and I'll help you!" She opened a few more maps. "I just gotta... uh, find a secret passage or something. There's always one of those, right?"

"...Not really, no," Rief said. "Most palaces are designed for safety and comfort, not to make it easy for sneaky adventurers to steal all the gold."

"B-but..." Maddie stammered. "But the Warriors of Vale were doing that stuff all the time! They used their powers and made new entrances, and then they'd sneak in and fight the bad guys... or they'd find some ancient treasure, and give it back to the people who lost it, or even bring it along to fight OTHER bad guys with!"

Rief stared at Maddie. She stared back. She blushed after several seconds.

"W-well... let's get looking, shall we?" She retrieved a pair of reading glasses and put them on.

An hour or so later, they had made no progress whatsoever.

"Yeah, sorry," Rief finally said, "I don't think your dad designed anything for the purposes you're thinking of."

Maddie flopped down in a chair, defeated. "B-but... there has to be something... some puddle you can freeze to make a perfectly-aligned pillar, or some hidden staircase that leads you around the guards..."

Rief laughed. "Afraid not. I might just take the frontal approach, regular soldiers don't stand much of a chance against a powerful adept-"

"But they do!" Maddie shouted. "They've been looking for you all along! If they could capture your friends, they can capture you, and I don't want you to die!" She stopped and blushed. "That's not... I mean, you helped my brother, and..."

Rief sighed, but smiled to try to calm her. "I'm sure it'll be okay. Thanks for trying to help. Maybe something else will come up."

She stood up slowly. "I... I'll get started on dinner." Amidst the clanging of pots and pans, she tried to engage in small talk. "So where are you from?"

"Uh, Imil, actually," Rief said. "Up north."

Maddie dropped the saucepan she was holding and spun. She slammed her hands on the table excitedly. "You mean near Mercury Lighthouse? Have you ever been there? Inside, I mean? Have you seen the beacon-"

"Whoa, uh... yeah," Rief said, raising his hands in an attempt to slow the torrent of questions. "Yeah, Imil is near the lighthouse. I've been inside, once, but not very far. The beacon is hard to miss, so yes, I've seen it. Why the sudden interest?"

Maddie brushed a strand of hair away from her face. "Well, I... I've never been away from the city! I've read all about these exciting places and I've always wanted to go to them but I NEVER HAVE and my parents travel but-"

"Deep breaths," Rief advised.

"S-sorry, sorry!" she said. "My parents have all these books, and I can learn about new places, but I've never traveled. I can't visit any of them. So when I meet people who have been to far-off locations, I just... I get excited, is all!" She blushed. "You're so interesting, Rief..."

Rief folded his arms proudly. "Well, I HAVE been just about everywhere. My friends and I traveled a lot over the past few months, and when I was younger, my sister and I were tutored by Kraden the Scholar. He's a fan of learning by experience. Is there anywhere you want me to tell you about?"

Maddie gasped. "Wait, that old man... you said his name was Kraden! Is he... THE Kraden? You learned under THE Kraden?"

"Yup!" Rief exclaimed. "He's a good friend of the family. Nice guy." His smile faltered. "I sure hope I can save him."

"Th-the chronicles of the Warriors of Vale are my favorite stories ever!" Maddie said. "When they started saying Adepts were evil, I didn't believe them, and now you're here, and I was right, Adepts are sooo cool, and-"

Rief cleared his throat loudly.

"I'm so, so sorry, I just get so carried away..." She blushed again. "I'm... I'm a bit of a history geek. I read all I can about real-life adventurers in books, and we have all of the Chronicles of the Sun. I read them over and over! So when I heard you knew Kraden, it was... it was so exciting, like..." She paused. "Are the Warriors of Vale really real? Do you know them?"

Rief scratched his head. "Uh... maybe we can talk about something else, your heart rate and anxiety levels are disturbingly high and I'm worried you might..."

She stared straight into his eyes and wore a grin from ear to ear.

"Well, uh..." Rief coughed. "Mia lives in Imil, too. And she... taught me psynergy?" Hey, he was being honest.

"You're... you're KIDDING!" Maddie said. "You actually know her? I know someone who knows Mia of Imil? Oh, I can't..." She sighed happily. "I feel faint."

Rief stood quickly and positioned himself to catch her in case she actually fell. "You know what? I think it'd be better for your health if I stopped talking about myself right now," he said.

She moved toward the couch in the nearby living room and motioned for him to follow. "But you're so... interesting!" she said. "Me, I'm just a city girl, alone, with no one to care for her and all of the responsibilities her parents left to her..." She paused for effect. "Just waiting for someone to come by who can show her how good life really can be... like somebody out of a fairy tale..."

Rief swallowed hard and followed her to the couch. He sat down next to her. "Well... I feel weird just talking about myself, I guess. And yeah, I am actually a little worried about your health. Mercury Adepts can sense people's vitality, and your heart rate's kind of disturbingly high-"

"Oh, there are lots of reasons for my heart to be pounding!" Maddie responded, leaning a little too close to Rief. "Loooots of them."

Rief blushed. He was speechless.

"Oh, that reminds me," she asked, "You don't have a place to stay, do you? Not one that you can get to safely, since the city guards might be on the lookout for you." She put a hand on his shoulder. "...Maybe you can stay here? We have a bed..."

Rief choked a little. "Umm, _a_ bed? Singular?"

Maddie shrugged. "Well, two. But Roger's got the other one, so I guess we'd have to share." She batted her eyelashes at him. "You wouldn't mind, would you? I mean, I'm seventeen, it wouldn't be improper-"

Rief stood quickly. "Okay, so, I just want to say, uh, it's not that I'm not... uh, interested, and I'm kind of enjoying this, this is kind of weird, having a gorgeous city girl inexplicably fawning over me-"

"You're rambling, Rief," she interrupted. "Also, you think I'm gorgeous? Why, thank you, I-"

"WE MET AN HOUR AGO," Rief said sharply.

Maddie blushed. "I... w-well... okay, yeah, but it's been a nice hour!" She paused. "And I saw you yesterday, remember? At the marketplace-"

"Yes, before I probably trapped you with walls of ice for a good long period," he replied quickly.

She stood up after him and clutched her hands to her chest. "You could have killed me and my brother! You didn't, even though everyone else was trying to kill YOU! Right then, I thought, 'One day, that man is going to be the man I-'" She caught herself. "Th-the man I bump into, and then he comes home and fixes my brother's broken leg!"

Rief raised an eyebrow.

"It was an oddly specific thought, and that's why it must've been an, an omen! Or something!" She sighed and, her eyes almost tearful, she approached him and took his hands. "It's written in the stars, Rief! Don't you see?"

Rief looked out the window in a panic. "It's mid-afternoon! There are no stars out!" he said.

"No, I mean..." She put her arms around him. "I think I've been waiting for you to show up my whole life. Rief..." She looked into his eyes. "Will you marry me?"

Rief very carefully removed her arms. "I have to go," he said quickly.

"B-but-"

"My friends are wasting away in prison, and since one of the safety measures might actually kill one of them, I think I may as well just hurry in right now."

"But they'll kill you-"

"Maybe not!" he said. "Maybe I'll get in safely, get them out, and we can be on our way! And maybe I'll see you again if that happens."

"P-please don't-"

"You seem like a nice girl, Maddie! You really do! And if I survive, let's be friends. I'd like to get to know you better. Maybe we can meet for coffee or something, as long as we go a little more slowly."

Maddie watched helplessly as Rief opened the door. "Don't die, Rief... please..." she begged.

He shrugged as he started to walk out. "I'm sure something will turn up." He marched right out the door.

A second later, Maddie heard a loud thump. "Ow, what?" Rief shouted.

Another voice echoed from outside. "Sorry, I wasn't watching where I was going, and- oh, hey! Rief! How's it going? What are you doing in Bilibin?"

Maddie hurried to the door. "Are you okay, Rief?" she asked.

He was flat on the ground, having been knocked down (apparently accidentally) by a taller man. He wore a long, dark coat and a sword on his back. His hair was blonde and spiked forward, and the thin beard on his jawline gave him a look of maturity that belied the youthful glow in his eyes.

The man looked at Rief, then at Maddie. "...Is this your girlfriend or something?"

She shook her head quickly. "Well, umm, no. I mean, kind of. I mean... no, we just met an hour ago."

A redheaded woman leaned over to look through the doorframe. She paused for a second, looking Maddie from top to bottom, and then a wicked grin came over her face.

"Called it," she said, elbowing the man in the ribs.

"Doesn't make it any less of a terrible thing to say," the blonde man muttered.

Clearing her throat, Maddie extended a hand in greeting. "I'm Madeline. Maddie to my friends."

Rief looked up in horror and made a sharp cutting motion across his throat, but the tall man didn't notice.

"I'm Isaac. Nice to meet you. This is my wife Jenna, and my friends..." Two more men came into sight, one of them with a large red mustache to match his spiky hair, and the other much shorter with blonde hair and striking purple eyes. "...Garet, and Ivan," the man finished.

"Isaac, Jenna, Garet and Ivan..." Maddie said slowly. She took a deep breath in and let it out. She clenched her fists hard. "...Of Vale?"

Isaac nodded. "You've heard of us?" he asked.

Maddie passed out.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Remember Jenna's totally-uncalled-for comments back in Chapter 3? I did not remember what she said about Rief before writing this chapter. I am 100% serious. I went back and added "Called it" after I checked and found that the comment matched the situation right down to the fucking timespan. I both love and hate eerie coincidences like that._

_I hate using original characters like Maddie because I'm always worried that they'll overshadow the canon characters, or end up all Mary Sue-ish. As it is, she's basically a Golden Sun fangirl who meets the characters in real life. I'm male (as I've mentioned) but I still worry that people will see her and go "Wow, self-insert much?" (No, she's not a self-insert. She was originally a flat character designed as a love interest for Rief and nothing more, but flat characters are boring so she stopped being flat. There's more to her than "excitable comic-relief fangirl who is completely bonkers".)_

_What are your thoughts on the use of original characters? Do you prefer stories with 100% canon characters? If I wrote a story that revolves entirely around original characters set in Weyard, would you read it?_


	38. Too Much Angst

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

With as much haste as she could safely bring to bear, Karis took the key ring with her feet and brought it to her hands. After some fumbling, she finally found the key for her shackles – she freed her right hand first, and then the left, before going straight for the cell door.

She looked both ways to make sure no guards were in sight. Unarmed, she could be considered a threat in any other situation, but there was no chance she'd be willing to risk using even the slightest bit of psynergy anymore. Not with Sveta in the condition she was in.

Karis unlocked the door and immediately ran to the next cell over. Unlocking it and entering, Karis got a better look at Sveta. Her stomach turned as she saw the young queen covered in her own blood. There were thin trickles of it running down her face out of her eyes, ears and nose, and there was a significant amount around her mouth from the coughing.

"Sveta, I'm so, so sorry... please, please forgive me, I didn't know-"

Sveta looked up at Karis weakly and cringed. She tried her best, weakened and entangled though she was, to curl up and hide away. "No... no more, please..." she said.

Karis burst into tears even as she began to undo Sveta's bindings.

The right hand was freed first. As soon as the shackle opened, the hand began to slap weakly at Karis. "Stop it, get away..." Sveta murmured. She coughed again.

Ignoring her friend's objections, Karis undid the other cuff. The hand dropped and Sveta tried to scramble away into the nearby corner.

"Sveta, you're free!" Karis whispered. "We can go! We'll find Matthew and Tyrell, and we'll get Rief, and..." She trailed off, seeing that her words were not being heard.

Sveta was curled into a fetal position in the corner of her cell. One hand was covering her face.

"No, no... go away... you, you... made it dark..." Sveta coughed, and a few flecks of blood splattered on the bars in front of her face. "Scared of you, go away... please... no more..."

Karis's heart snapped in half. Her mind was awash with horror.

But within that horror came resolve.

"Sveta, I did this to you and I'm sorry," she said through the tears. "But I promise I'll make it better. You'll see."

She walked out of the cell, but left the door open in hopes that Sveta would be able to leave on her own at some point.

"I'll be back with help," she said quietly. "Please... don't die, Sveta. Matthew needs you. Do it for him."

Karis blinked back tears as she started running toward what seemed to be an exit, looking for something, anything, that would help her get Sveta free.

* * *

Felix looked with panic at the controls in front of him, wishing desperately that there was some kind of autopilot. A sudden jerk of turbulence sent him into a whirl of airsickness, and that, combined with the idea that his girlfriend might once again be slipping away into the darkness, threw all thoughts of caution out the window. He aimed the airship as well as he could and hoped it would stay on course as he jumped out of the cockpit.

He stumbled upon entering the passenger compartment. The slow motion of the plane beneath his feet sent him off balance and he placed a hand on the ceiling to steady himself, his other hand going straight to his mouth. He tried to hurry along the adrenaline and rely on the worry to keep his nausea down. It wasn't really working.

"Real smooth, hero..." came a weak voice below him.

Felix's mind snapped into focus. "Karst, are you alright? That's a LOT of blood, and we don't have a place to stop for the next little while."

She shrugged. "Been through worse," she said. "Several times."

Felix grumbled in displeasure. He looked around the cabin. "Maybe there's a first-aid kit in the cockpit. I just wish I had a bit more experience..."

He took the sword off his back and threw it to the other end of the cabin.

"There, in a little while I'll at least be able to help keep you breathing," he said.

"Get back to the controls..." Karst murmured. "I'll be fine. Just keep us in the air."

Felix slammed a fist into the wall. He knew there was nothing he could do, but... "I'll be back in a bit. Hang in there. For me," he added.

He stumbled back to the controls and closed the door behind him.

* * *

"Ooookay, well, that's certainly something," Isaac said. "Rief? Backstory, please."

Rief scrambled to his feet and cleared his throat. Where to start? Best to ease them into it...

"Okay, so I bumped into her – literally – about an hour ago, and she recognized me as an adept from another incident, so she got me to come back and heal her brother's broken leg. And then I did. Apparently she's a history nerd, because she remained a fan of Adepts despite all the anti-Adept sentiment in Bilibin -"

"Wait, what?" Jenna interrupted. "Anti-Adept sentiment? When did this crop up? My parents live in Vault. Are they alright?"

Rief paused. He licked his lips and felt a cold sweat break out on his forehead.

"You know what? Let's come inside and talk about this." He picked up Maddie – quick check of vitals, heart rate normal, breathing normal, blood pressure returning to normal, no permanent damage – and led the way into the house before laying her on her couch.

He turned and looked at his four guests. Four of the most powerful warriors the world had ever seen, each one capable of laying waste to a city single-handedly. And he had to tell them that their kids were in prison, awaiting execution. Oh, and the one with the worst temper was about to find out her parents had been killed.

Rief felt himself go weak in the knees.

Ivan cleared his throat. "Sooo... are you going to talk, or do you need me to...?"

Rief jumped. "Oh! Right, uh... So. Lady McCoy is a Tuaparang agent who has been trying to subvert the local attitude toward Adepts in preparation for an invasion by the High Empyror and his forces. I know this because Matthew and Sveta and I went to try to negotiate peace between Morgal and Bilibin. It didn't go so well. I escaped, but the others are in prison now if they're still alive SORRY ISAAC SORRY JENNA PLEASE FORGIVE ME but I think they're probably still alive so it's okay probably!"

Jenna folded her arms. "Matthew's a tough kid, I'm sure he's fine. We'll go break him out after this. Anything else we need to know?"

Rief nodded, tears in his eyes. "Tyrell, Karis and Kraden are in there too, if Maddie's telling the truth. I was planning on going in and getting them myself, but like I said, they're supported by the Tuaparang, so they have a bunch of equipment designed to deal with Adepts, and it wasn't until... uh, it became really undesirable to be here... that I got up the courage to head out. Then I bumped into you guys."

Ivan walked over to Maddie and put a hand on her head. He jerked back after several seconds and scratched his head.

"Well, I can honestly say that I don't think she would lie to you, Rief," he said.

There was a silence.

"So she really was that... uh...?" Rief stammered. "I thought she might've been laying an elaborate trap or something. I genuinely don't know if I'm relieved or not."

"What're you doing here anyway, Rief?" Isaac asked. "Sveta, too. I figured you'd be in Imil, and... doesn't she have a kingdom to run?"

Rief nodded. "Well, she would be, but y'see..." He paused, his eyes widening.

He let out a small whimper.

A nervous smile leapt to his face as he clapped his hands together.

"So!" he said. "Who wants to know what Felix has been up to all this time?"

Jenna took an excited step forward. "You saw him? Really? Is he okay? Why hasn't he-"

Rief cleared his throat. "If you said 'the same stuff as Lady McCoy...'" he said dramatically, "You're... uhmm, right." He finished with another whimper.

Jenna's expression fell.

"Sorry, Jenna. I don't know what to say, but-"

She shrugged. "I do. Next time I see him, I'll show him who's boss, that's what. Running off for thirty years to join the bad guys? I know he's an absolutely terrible judge of character, but he missed his sister's wedding and has never met his nephew! A good smack's what Felix needs."

Rief nodded sadly. "I'm kind of glad you feel that way. It makes it easier to tell you that he kidnapped Sveta, let her go temporarily when... uh, when he found out she knew Matthew... and also knocked out my mom somewhere along the line and I guess kidnapped HER. He still has her somewhere."

Jenna snapped her fingers happily. "Right! Sveta! So, tell me all about her!"

"Huh?" Rief said, nonplussed.

"Garet told me that Tyrell told HIM that our son was dating a cute wolfgirl queen! I want to hear all the details," Jenna said, leaning in a little closer. "How far have they gotten? Are they gonna get married? How long before I get to meet my grandkids?"

"For the record, they WEREN'T dating until a few days ago," Rief began. "But yeah, now they are. And, hey! They're currently wasting away in prison waiting for help. So maybe we should get on that?"

Isaac nodded. "No time to waste, then. What do you say, guys? Through the front gates?"

Garet shrugged. "Sounds as good as any other plan."

Jenna raised a hand. "So," she said, "When you said Felix was doing the same thing as Lady McCoy... did you mean that he's THERE? Do I get to deal with him right away?"

"He's not there," Rief said. "He was up north last time I saw him. No idea where he is now."

Jenna sighed and bit her fingernail. "Too bad. I was hoping to tell Mom and Dad that their long-lost son had been found."

Maddie stirred lightly. No one in the room noticed.

Rief stiffened at Jenna's statement. "Is... is that so?" he asked.

Jenna nodded. "Yeah, what's wrong with that?"

Rief opened his mouth to speak. No words came out.

He sighed and rubbed his eyes.

"Okay," he said. "Okay. I'm glad you've been so good about everything so far. Thanks for staying calm. So if you lose it at this next bit-"

"Spit it out, Rief," Jenna said. "I'm a grown woman, I can handle it."

"Lady McCoy said that two adepts, a venus and a mars, had been accused of disturbing the peace in Bilibin. As such, they were executed, along with any Adept sympathizers in their town," Rief announced. "They lived in Vault. I'm sorry, but I think there's only one possibility for who she was talking about."

A mix of terror and sadness flashed across Jenna's features. She covered it up with a look of concentrated anger. "So... my parents, you mean. You think they're dead. Again. And it's probably true this time."

Rief nodded.

Maddie gasped. Rief jumped a foot in the air. "When did you wake up-"

"B-b-but..." she began, "The _entire city_ loved the adepts. They had done so many good things, and some had actually helped to rebuild the city after the Golden Sun, and..." She clasped her hands over her mouth. "Then... then Lady McCoy..."

Maddie burst into tears. "She killed everyone. She killed my parents. It wasn't shadow creatures, it wasn't any accident, it was... it was a bloody political scheme."

Jenna smacked a fist into her palm. "Don't worry, miss. She isn't going to live out the night. I'll make sure of it."

Jenna motioned to Isaac. "Can you step outside with me, love? I need to discuss something with you."

She immediately turned and walked out, her eyes red and her expression unreadable. Isaac followed quietly.

Maddie curled up into a ball on her couch. She sobbed heavily into her arms. "I knew... I knew my parents were dead, but... it was my own people who did it, why would that even be possible, I can't..."

Ivan nudged Rief. Rief looked pleadingly back at Ivan. "No, come on, I can't..." the young Mercury whispered harshly.

Ivan just gave Rief a hard glare.

Rief cautiously stepped over to Maddie and put a hand on her shoulder.

"I, uh... I'm sorry you had to find out this way," he said. "If you need anything..."

Maddie nodded, her face still buried in her arms. "Yeah... there's something you could do to help."

She lifted up her head, and her red and puffy eyes were aflame.

"Kill her. Make sure this won't ever happen again." She looked at Rief. "And come back alive. Even if... even if it isn't to me. If you leave the city after and we never meet again, then... at least I'll know you survived, and that's what I need."

Garet spoke next. "Rief, if you don't want to come, I'm sure we'll be fine. This isn't our first time breaking someone out of prison. Heck, I don't think it's even our second or third."

Maddie shook her head. "None of you four are healers, and from the sound of it, there may be some injuries. You need Rief along. And it's not like he has any reason to want to stay here."

"Look, Maddie," he said reflexively, "I'm glad we met and everything, and you seem nice-"

She threw her arms around him and burst into tears. "I'm so sorry I scared you away by being over-enthusiastic! I get so excited sometimes, and... and I'm so terrible, and useless, and..."

Rief looked over her shoulder at Garet and Ivan. Garet flashed Rief a smile and two thumbs up. Ivan slapped his palm onto his face.

* * *

Jenna led Isaac around a corner into a nearby alleyway. The moment they were out of sight, she buried her face into his chest and began to cry. Isaac put his arms around her to console her.

"They're dead again, Isaac... it was bad enough the first time, and..."

Isaac nodded. "I'm sorry it had to happen, Jenna. I wish there was something we could have done. But whatever happens, I'm here for you."

Jenna smiled through the tears. "You were last time, too," she said, "even if you didn't realize it."

Isaac laughed. "I'm glad I smartened up. Aren't you?"

Jenna hugged her husband tightly. "No regrets here."

They stayed that way for several minutes before Jenna pulled away.

"We've still got a son to worry about. And I still want to meet this girlfriend of his," Jenna said as she wiped her eyes.

Isaac froze. "Yeah... right. He sure is growing up fast, isn't he?"

"Fast? He's almost eighteen!" Jenna said indignantly. "It's about time he found a nice girl! And it's funny you should say that, mister, considering that you had already had your card punched by the time you were his age!"

"No, I mean... he'll be leaving home soon, and-"

"I've had to live with him away from home for four years!"

"But-"

"Oh, suck it up, you big baby," Jenna said to Isaac. "When he introduces you to her, you need to be polite and supportive. Let him grow up."

Isaac avoided his wife's eyes. "...Right. I'll try."

"That's all I ask," Jenna said with a smile. She adjusted her hair and then took Isaac's hand. "We've been gone for long enough. Thanks for coming out here with me."

They walked back to Maddie's house in silence.

* * *

Karst was doing her best to apply pressure to her leg, even though she couldn't actually feel any difference. She HAD been through worse – last time it had been her back – but it was just unnerving for one to know she was dying without actually feeling any of the pain.

She felt herself beginning to waver, and dipped into her psynergy reserves to let out an Aura. She felt her adrenaline start pumping and her resolve ignite. No way in hell she was going down to a stinking arrow.

As a Proxian, Karst had always known she'd probably die painfully. It was the way life worked up north. She had been ready for the end, all those years ago on Mars Lighthouse. It had felt oddly appropriate for death to come at a lover's hand.

She wasn't sure she preferred survival, really. The wildcard that was the Golden Sun had changed everything, but while it felt good to have a second chance, Karst admitted to herself that she had really, REALLY liked walking.

"Hm? Oh, hey..."

Karst's attention snapped to the opposite bench.

Mia's eyes were partly open, but she was still lying down. "So he let you out?" she asked. " 'S good... glad to see you..."

Karst gritted her teeth angrily. "Oh, I'm sure you are!" She was about to spit another scathing remark, but she was overcome with a sudden dizzy spell. She brought a hand to her head in reflex, and when the airship shook from turbulence, she was unable to restrain herself. She fell to the cabin floor heavily.

Mia leaned over. "That arrow doesn't look very good," she said.

Karst lifted herself up off the floor into a sitting position. "You think? Argh, now I'm all covered in my own blood... this is humiliating!"

Mia sat up. "Does it hurt at all?" she asked.

Karst gave Mia a very rude gesture with one hand.

"Right, you don't feel it," Mia answered with a yawn. "Okay, well... that'll make this much easier."

"Make what easier?"

Mia grabbed Karst by the leg and lifted it straight up in the air. The Mars Adept yelped as she banged her head on the floor.

Mia then grabbed the arrow by its head and pulled it straight out. It caused almost as much damage coming out as it had going in.

"Y-you _bitch!_" Karst shouted. "I'll kill you myself-"

Mia pulled hard on Karst's leg again to send her off-balance, and then spent all of the psynergy she had built up. The blood vessels began to knit themselves together as the body suddenly found itself with a much larger quantity of blood in reserve. The atrophied muscles remained torn, though, and the skin itself did not heal.

"I'll do the rest in a bit," Mia said. "Just gotta get my strength back. Assuming, of course, that you decide to let me live."

Karst growled.

"Be careful with that leg," Mia continued. "I mean, yeah, it isn't going to see a whole lot of use. But don't smash it against anything if you can help it. And be thankful that you can't feel it. It probably would hurt like crazy."

"Pain is nothing new to a woman of Prox!" Karst spat. "And this doesn't do a thing to make up for what you did to my sister! I will never, ever forgive you-"

"Not asking for forgiveness," Mia interrupted. "You were hurt, and I helped. It's what I do. So maybe you could stop shouting and let me get some rest?"

Karst stopped talking, but she stared daggers at Mia as she tried her best to climb back onto the seats. "I will not thank you for healing my wound. I hate you too much for that." She paused. "Felix might thank you, though, for what it's worth."

"Oh, Felix? He's here?" Mia asked. "Right, right, duh. Of course he's here if you are. Well, whatever, wake me when he's around. I want to ask him some things."

"Things?"

"Things like, why the hell am I on an airship? Why are you awake, why is there an arrow through your leg? Does Felix need medical attention? Why did I pass out again? That sort of thing."

"I could answer most of those," Karst said.

Mia waved away the comment. "Yeah, but I don't need to know right away, and frankly, I don't want to hear any more 'you killed my sister and I hate you' horsecrap today. Too tired for that. So now I'm going to sleep, and when I wake up I'll finish fixing your leg, and you can keep on being ungrateful. Sound good?"

Karst's eyes flashed. "You miserable _whore-!"_

"Pffft," Mia said. "Wouldn't be the first time someone's called me that. Try harder next time."

By the time Karst had finished being speechless, Mia was already lightly snoring.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Before I get onto what I want to talk about, I want to give a shout out to Demonsshade, who just finished his GS fanfic, Risen! It's another Matthew/Sveta story, but it's much darker and has a much more tragic tone to it. It's an excellent read and I'd definitely recommend you guys check it out. _

_There are a few things I feel need to be cleared up – I am sometimes bad at realizing when plot ideas or facts haven't made the jump to the reader. As a result, there have been a few questions that I've answered in responses, but that I haven't done enough to explain in the actual story... or, well, anywhere that people tend to read._

_First things first: how I think beastmen work and why. Sveta and her people (as well as, to a certain extent, Garoh's werewolves) developed beastlike traits as a result of psynergy. For Morgal beastmen it was the Golden Sun. For Garoh werewolves it was a combination of Air's Rock and (probably) something related to Anemos on the moon. Since the beast traits only show up when psynergy is available in vast amounts (see also: Sveta's full beastform being powered by djinn), I figure they're probably inextricably LINKED to psynergy, hence Karis's reference to Sveta being a beast of psynergy last chapter (which I've removed because she doesn't have a good reason to actually know – I'm going to have Kraden tell her)._

_So, remember back at the start? When Matthew was concerned and everything about vortexes in Morgal? That was because vortexes drain psynergy. If you drain an Adept's psynergy, they eventually pass out. What happens if you drain the psynergy of a creature that's basically got it woven into their inner workings?_

_Well, you get what just happened to Sveta._

_Next frequently asked question: Do I plan to bring in Amiti, Eoleo, Himi, Sheba, Piers or Nowell? Nope. Well, maybe Amiti for a scene in the epilogue, I have an idea there. But as it stands, the story has all the primary characters it needs, and introducing more at this point would just be namedropping. Don't worry, I've got a lot more GS-related plot ideas in my head, so seeing some of the neglected characters in the future won't be out of the question. But they won't show up in DoJ._

_Where'd the names for the new Generals come from? Doublon is a (stupid) name I came up with because coins-dubloons-Doublon. Caudgel is a (stupid) name I came up with because clubs-blunt weapons-cudgel-Caudgel. Yeah it sucks, I know, but in my defence, Blados and Chalis aren't exactly masterpieces either! (I still suck at names)_


	39. Stay On Target

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"Kraden!" a voice rang out. "I'm so glad you're okay!"

Kraden lazily opened a single eye. He smiled a smile completely devoid of surprise when he saw Karis standing outside his cell.

"Oh, good, you've escaped," he said. "I was worried for a moment. We've been here for quite some time. I knew you were a creative girl and all, but-"

"Sveta's hurt! We need to find Rief, now!" Karis interjected.

Kraden stood slowly. "Hurt? But what happened?" He stretched his arms out. "Oh, these stone floors do NOTHING good for me..."

"Huh?" Karis asked. "No shackles?"

Kraden smiled again. "Those things made my joints ache, and I managed to convince the guards that an old man like me was no threat."

Karis unlocked the cell door and ushered the old man out. "Sveta's down here, and Matthew and Tyrell are too. Rief may or may not be, but either way, he takes first priority. If we don't find him in time, Sveta's going to bleed out..."

"Why is she not with you?" Kraden asked. "Even if she can't walk at the moment, surely it would be faster to carry her to Rief-"

"She wouldn't come with me. She... refused," Karis said. "She's still in her cell, but the door's unlocked. We have to find Rief and bring him to her... ugh, wait." She smacked herself on the head loud enough that Kraden heard it. "He can't heal her, not with those psynergy traps..."

Kraden's eyes widened. He pushed his glasses up onto his face. "Psynergy traps? Oh no, Karis, don't tell me you activated one?" He frowned. "That's why Sveta's hurt, isn't it?"

Karis looked away in shame. "There's... a delay," she said. "I got these keys using my Whirlwind psynergy. Quick, strong bursts. But about a half-second after they detect psynergy, they just sap it. It seemed to be stronger the more psynergy I spent, but if I used it all at once, I could finish the spell before the trap activated."

Kraden winced. "Sveta told you it was hurting her, didn't she?"

Karis took a defensive step back. "B-but it was hurting me, too! A little... It felt uncomfortable, and I felt really tired..."

"But it was not the same," Kraden said with a shake of his head. "Karis, do you know why I sent Matthew into Morgal specifically on the vortex hunt? It was not so that he could get friendly with the Queen, I assure you, though she was part of the reason. Let's get going, it will take some explaining and we are short on time."

Karis nodded, blinking away tears. "You're right. We have to find Rief, and-"

"No," Kraden interrupted. "The trap system must have a shutoff system. There's probably... some thingie around here. Maybe near the prison entrance. I was conscious when they brought me down, and there were a number of doors near the stairs. Maybe you can look through them and..." He gestured vaguely. "Do your mechanic thing at them? I don't know."

"Mechanic thing? I'll try my best. Let's go." They began a fast walk in the direction Kraden indicated.

"So, Karis, have you ever heard of the village of Garoh?" Kraden asked. When she shook her head, he continued. "They are a village of werewolves that Felix's group visited thirty years ago. Shapeshifters. Like the beastmen, they take the form of animals under certain circumstances... but we determined the source of their powers to be Air's Rock, a font of Jupiter psynergy located nearby. Since the beastmen appeared immediately after the Golden Sun, we can probably assume that that was what gave THEM their abilities – there are many similarities, but the animal features are certainly more prominent in beastmen, to say the least."

"Miss Jenna mentioned werewolves at one point, actually," Karis said. "It was years ago. I had forgotten... though I didn't really believe her at the time."

Kraden laughed. "And now you've seen beastmen for yourself, and you believe, right? Now, your father and I have discussed this at length, but since he hasn't been to Garoh himself, and we have no real proof... well, it was all theory-"

"What was theory?" Karis asked.

"Beastmen have psynergy written into their very bodies," Kraden said. "That's how they've managed to remain in existence even after the Golden Sun ended."

Karis signalled a stop just before a corner. "Written into their bodies?" Karis whispered. "Like Adepts, then?" She looked around the corner and saw two guards engrossed in a heated conversation. Behind them was a lit staircase, and on either side of them were heavy steel doors.

Kraden shook his head. "No. Deeper than that. Differently. Not all beastmen are Adepts... well, not that I'm certain of, anyway, but that's another story... but all beastmen are creatures of psynergy. Sveta needs Djinn to change her form, and that has nothing to do with her Jupiter-borne talents. Your father and I worried that it would work the opposite way, too, and that draining her powers would weaken her tragically."

Karis slumped against the wall. "It did more than weaken her," she said sadly. "That's for sure."

She took a deep breath. "Those guys are probably guarding the controls," she said. "I'll be back in a bit."

"Karis, wait-"

She stepped around the corner confidently and walked straight into two heavily armored, barrel-chested guards.

"The guards have stopped talking," Kraden said slowly, "and you can't use psynergy here."

Karis raised a hand slowly and waved. "Uh... hi!" she said cheerfully.

"What're you doing out of your cell, girlie?" the guard on the left asked. "Need us to show you the way back?"

The one on the right grinned. "Hold on, there, I think maybe we should let her stay around for a bit."

Lefty turned to Righty. "Oh, really?" he asked in mock surprise. "But she's a prisoner. She's worthless, amoral scum who deserves to be locked up."

Righty gave a plaintive gesture. "Well, she's going to die tomorrow, you know..." He gave a predatory grin. "It wouldn't be fair for her to go out without a bit of fun, would it?"

Karis backed away. "I'll just be-"

"You wanna have some fun, don't you, cutie?" the left guard asked. "Can't just run off and leave us hanging, here..."

"Get back to your cell, old coot," the right-hand man said with barely a glance toward Kraden, "unless you'd rather stay and watch."

With two large, muscular and armed guards barring any chance of exit, Karis began backing into a corner. She felt momentary panic.

Then she stepped on a large rock and, in a panic, lashed out at it with her foot. It flew straight into the wall and shattered.

"Oh," she said with a sigh of relief, "right. Hold on, Kraden, I'll be out in a sec."

Karis took a single step forward and cracked her knuckles loudly. "I may not be able to use my psynergy, but... tell me, boys," Karis asked with a laugh, "have you ever seen what happens when a person has a full complement of Djinn at her disposal?"

And then her right foot rocketed toward the right-hand guard's crotch.

* * *

"Karst! You're still alive! I'm so relieved!"

Karst sat upright – as much as she was able to, at least – and realized that she had fallen asleep at some point. Felix stood awkwardly in the doorway between the cockpit and passenger cabin, holding the doorframe with one hand and his stomach with the other.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" she asked.

"Well, for one thing," he said, "you were bleeding to death. When my psynergy finally recovered I half-expected to be unable to sense your life force. But you're good as new, and your leg..."

Karst shrugged. "Mia woke up for a bit. She stopped the bleeding, I called her a whore, and she went back to sleep. Nothing major."

Felix put a hand on his face for a moment before deciding that keeping himself standing was more important than body language. He returned to his former stance. "She woke up? I'm glad to see she apparently wasn't hostile, then," he said.

Karst shook her head. "She wanted to be woken when you came back here, actually. Wanted to know all about what was going on, and wouldn't let me tell her because she is a stupid bitch who killed my sister."

Felix snickered.

"What?" Karst asked angrily.

"One-track mind," Felix said.

Karst glared at him. "Seriously? Is that all you have to say? I feel I'm entitled to a little revenge!"

Felix looked into the cockpit for a moment and, apparently deciding that the airship could fly itself for a bit, sat down next to Karst. "Look, love... I know that you miss your sister. I knew her too. She was a good person. But these are good people, too. You need to put your bloodlust behind you before it kills you. It almost did last time."

As Felix put a comforting, reassuring hand around her shoulders, Karst squeezed her eyes shut in frustration.

"I know, last time it happened I lost my legs, and my partner was killed... but it's just..." She clenched her fists. "My sister, my idol, died trying to save the world. This girl in front of us was part of the pigheaded group trying to STOP her from saving the world. If Mia and her friends had had their way, time might already have been up by now. Mars Lighthouse would've gone over the falls. Prox would certainly be doomed.

It just doesn't seem fair that they change sides, continue on to save the world as my sister had tried to do from the very beginning, and not only do THEY get lauded as heroes, but... Menardi's the villain."

Felix shook his head. "I'm sorry. I wish there was something I could do, but... sometimes bad things happen to good people."

"I just want 'em dead, Felix! Is that too much to ask?" Karst blurted. "Look, she's sitting there asleep! Literally helpless! I'm brimming with more power than I've ever had in my LIFE and I can't do a thing to her! It's like she's taunting me!"

"Karst."

"I want revenge, and it's RIGHT THERE! I can practically smell her burning corpse!"

"KARST."

"Felix, don't act like you know how this feels! You've never lost a sister!"

"YES," he said sternly, "I have."

Karst paused. Of course. She had forgotten.

"Yeah. Remember that three-year period where everyone I knew and loved thought I was dead?" Felix said. "Where Jenna thought she was an orphan because, oh right, YOUR SISTER didn't want to reveal her bargaining chip? Frankly, when I finally saw Jenna again, I was just glad she hadn't killed herself. Because I wasn't allowed to have any information or news from my hometown. I got past that easily enough, didn't I? You helped."

"...I never thought of it that way," Karst said. "But... at least you still have your sister now. You have a chance of seeing her again."

"I haven't seen Jenna in 30 years," Felix said sadly. "I was too busy trying to find a way to help you, and then I was too guilt-ridden to even let her know I was still alive."

Karst said nothing.

"Guess what I found out a few days ago?" he continued. "She got married. I've got a nephew. His name's Matthew. Guess who the father is?"

Karst looked at Felix passively.

"Isaac," Felix finished. "Jenna married Isaac, the man primarily responsible for Menardi's death."

Karst looked away. She put her face into her hands and sighed.

"So... if we got married..." she said dejectedly, "then he'd become my brother-in-law?"

"I wouldn't think that far ahead, but... yeah," Felix said with a shrug.

Karst tented her fingers. "Guess I'll just have to kill my brother-in-law, then."

Felix stood up quickly.

"Karst, you don't get what I'm- Oh, uuuugh. Oh gods." Felix covered his mouth and doubled over as he moaned in discomfort. Karst frowned and extended a concerned hand toward him, but he batted it away.

"Okay, I gotta go sit... and, urgh, keep this thing steady. We can talk about this later." He staggered back into the cockpit. "We'll be in Bilibin soon. The plan's to hunt down the last General. Call me if Mia wakes up again, okay? Don't tell her we're doing anything against the Tuaparang if you can help it."

"But-"

"Sorry, done talking!" Felix said quickly. "Gotta focus on not being sick. Bye."

And he slammed the door shut.

* * *

When the door to her house opened, Maddie pushed herself away from Rief. As he struggled to catch a breath, she turned to greet her guests once more.

"So, umm... right! The Warriors of Vale. In my house. I... I promise not to faint again. I have drinks, would anyone like a drink?" she stammered.

There was a short silence accompanied by several shrugs and shakes of the head.

"I think we kind of want to go save our kids, actually," Jenna offered.

Maddie smacked herself on the head. "Right. The prison thing. Okay, I thought of something! I never thought I'd say this, but..."

She pointed a finger at Isaac. "You! You're good at earth stuff, right?" He nodded. She smacked herself again. "Well, duh, of course you are. You're a legendary Earth Adept."

Isaac shrugged. "Guess so," he said. "Why?"

Maddie hurried over to the scrolls scattered all over the table. "Rief and I were looking into secret passages into the palace earlier. Going in through the front is a bad idea – they'll be ready for you, even... even, uh, heroes like yourselves. When it was just Rief, our options were a little limited-"

"No puddles, then?" Ivan asked. "If you find a puddle, Rief could freeze it, and you can probably jump across the pillar..."

"No puddles," Maddie interrupted, "but I was thinking of something a bit more creative-"

Garet raised a hand. "What about vines? Isaac, you can still do vines, right?"

Isaac shrugged. "I guess so. But the prison is underground, right? We don't want to climb up. We want to climb down-"

"Yes! And that's my plan!" Maddie shouted. "I've got the map to the underground complex. If you look here-"

"What about Burst?" Jenna asked. "We could blow up the wall or something."

Ivan shook his head. "We need a cracked wall for that. This is a palace. They'll probably fix any cracks pretty quickly."

"I could crack a wall for you," Garet suggested.

"But... guys!" Maddie shouted with exasperation. "I know what to do! If you'll just-"

Isaac smiled disarmingly. "Don't worry about it. We're professionals! We've got experience in these things. Thanks for your help anyway, but we can sort ourselves out. Now, Ivan, maybe we could walk around and try casting Reveal at random..."

Rief hurried over as the four adults continued to bicker. "What do you see?" he asked.

Maddie sighed and pointed to the map.

"This," she said, pointing to a large circle, "is the extent of the palace wall. And this," she said, pointing to a location just outside, "is directly over the farthest end of the dungeon. If it was just us, it would be impossible to get down there without being noticed, but Isaac can rip a hole in the earth so the rest of us can drop down unnoticed."

"Us?" Rief said with a cocked eyebrow.

Maddie blushed. "I... I mean... of course I won't be going, I can't do anything-"

"Well... this is a pretty excellent plan, to be honest," Rief admitted. "It means we could get in and out without being detected, and we don't even have to risk going into the palace proper. If you wanted to tag along, I'm sure no one would mind."

"You... you mean it?" she asked, hands clasped in her chest.

Rief nodded happily. "Hey, guys!" he shouted. "How about breaking into the prison from above? Isaac can dig a really big hole and do it. Maddie knows where the hole needs to go."

The adults paused and looked at Rief. Isaac folded his arms. "Well... sure, if you think we can do that," he said. "Anyone opposed?"

Jenna smiled. "Great plan, Rief!" she said.

Rief pointed to Maddie. "It was her idea, actually. So, shall we go?"

No one said anything.

Garet scratched his head. He leaned over to Ivan and whispered "Wait, so Rief's coming too?"

Isaac clapped his hands together and took a step forward. The way he spoke was friendly, yet condescending, the way you would tell a 6 year old that he's too young to grow a beard.

"Well... you see, they're OUR kids," he said. "We could probably save them ourselves. So... maybe you should stay here? In case we need backup, I mean."

Rief's jaw dropped. "Oh, come on! Backup? I helped stop the Grave Eclipse, and you're trying to put me on the bench!"

"You helped stop the Gra-" Maddie began excitedly, but Rief held up a finger to stop her.

"I'm the only healer you've got! If somebody gets hurt, no one else can do what I do!"

Jenna covered her mouth to try to stifle a laugh, but instead let out a small snort. "If somebody gets hurt? Right, sorry. Those guards are pretty threatening, I gotta say."

Isaac bit his lip. "Rief... if you come down with us, then YOU'RE more likely to get hurt. Or, uh, block our line of fire. These facts might interchange, actually. So it's probably best for you to stay out of the way."

"But-"

"Now, I know! They're your friends too!" Isaac raised his hands, palms outward. "But the most you could do for them is to let us take over. Okay?"

Rief pouted.

"Glad we understand each other!" Isaac said. "Maddie, let's go. You know the way to this hole I have to dig, right?"

She shrugged. "I want Rief to come, too," she said.

Ivan sighed. "Right. Uhm... Rief can... defend our escape route. And Maddie. What do you think, Isaac?"

Isaac smacked his fist into his palm as if coming to a sudden conclusion. "Rief! You can defend our escape route and keep Maddie safe. That means standing outside the hole until we come out. Deal?"

Rief rolled his eyes.

Isaac pointed a finger at Rief and winked. "Good man." He turned to his companions. "Everybody else armed and ready?"

An axe, a staff and a light blade whipped out into the air at once. "Ready!" the three said in unison.

Isaac grinned. "Alright," he said.

He drew his greatsword and pointed at the door. "Let's go break us a prison!"

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES_

_Sorry for the wait. I got sick. Reeeeally sick._

_I'm not better yet, I'm just lucid enough to realize which world is the real one now (I hope?). It was a fun little trip. Hopefully I'll have time to update over the weekend. Hopefully I'll have actually gotten back into the flow of writing by then, too... this chapter was kind of terrible._

_In the meantime I noticed that if you gave Isaac glasses, he would be near-identical to Gendo Ikari. GUYS THIS IS A CROSSOVER OPPORTUNITY, MAKE IT COUNT_

_Oh, I got a lot of people mentioning the fact that the most recent chapters didn't have a lot of plot going on. That's part of my writing style; events happen, and while some writers handwave it with "So-and-so explained this", I like to do it in a realistic conversation style. That way, you can see reactions as they happen, characters can comment as they learn things, and once in a while I can pointedly leave something out or remind the audience that a character doesn't know something. Once everyone's caught up and established, plot can happen again._

_So yeah, we're approaching another surge, just hold on for a bit. There are fun twists coming down the pipes... for a certain definition of "fun."_


	40. Near Death Experience

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

_"It turns out you were right, brother. The fleet has been completely eradicated."_

_"We must have gotten out just in time, then. That whole event was... a miscalculation on my part, though not entirely a negative one. Who'd have known that that woman could be so vulnerable to my manipulations?"_

_"With all due respect? I did. In fact, I was trying to tell you-"_

_"Right, right. But it was impossible given the swing of things. That seed may yet bear fruit, dear sister, believe me. And even though we've been forced to go on this particular errand slightly ahead of schedule, I doubt that it will impact things very negatively in the future."_

_"You still haven't told me what this is all about."_

_"And I apologize for that. I mean, you were the one who did all the work to get us this far."_

_"...I did?"_

_"Sister, while you failed to activate the device – through no fault of your own, I might add – you still set the others on course to activate it in your stead. Sure, the target was not the one we were hoping for... but do you know what the fun part is?"_

_"What?"_

_"The device is still active. And this time, it's just waiting for us to waltz up and take the reigns."_

* * *

Sveta shivered gently as she lay on the cold floor of her cell. Her mind was finally beginning to return to her after several minutes of blind, senseless panic. She wasn't sure if it had been from the pain, or from the trap's effect itself, but she dimly recalled it happening once before. It had been on the airship. She glanced out the window, saw a hole in the universe... and then, for the lack of a better term, she vanished. She lost herself.

At least this time she couldn't throw herself out of a plane. No, even if she had BEEN in a plane, she couldn't even muster up the strength to crawl.

She felt a breeze against her cheek, and her heart started to race. Was it Karis again? Had she returned? Was she going to set off the traps again, oh please no, no no no no no no...

She laid still.

After several seconds, she realized that no more pain was coming. She let herself breathe again. And as she breathed, she began to cry. It hurt, it hurt so badly, and even crying made it worse as the tears forced themselves out of damaged tear ducts. Her throat tore as she sobbed. Rivulets of blood ran out of the corners of her eyes, and the edge of her mouth, and out of her nostrils. Her entire world was pain, but she barely noticed anymore. It was just something she had gotten used to.

No, she was crying because of her own problem, her flawed birth, the thing that had gotten her and everyone else into this mess in the first place-

An echo from down the nearby tunnel, followed by another light breeze. Sveta broke out in a cold sweat. Her stomach tied itself in knots. She sobbed even harder and wished desperately that she could go, leave, hide, be anywhere but here, get away from that terrible feeling... the air itself was full of her own impending doom, and as it stirred she could hear it whispering to her, laughing derisively at her weakness and her vulnerability...

And then she caught herself. It was just the wind, why was she so scared? Why did a gentle breeze nearly give her a panic attack? She was a Jupiter Adept. The air itself was at her beck and call. She had no more need to be afraid of it than- _oh gods, please, it is coming back, no, not the light again, it hurts so badly..._

She was useless in the face of her own fear. She knew, consciously, that it was just a normal wind, but no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't shake the deep-seated fear that it was a precursor to pain. A roar of wind, followed by a brilliant light, followed by the worst pain she had ever felt... she had experienced it over and over again, and in the corner of her mind she knew it to be a pattern, a permanent fixture in the world. It wasn't, of course, any pattern she should expect. When the wind blew, it simply meant that the air was in motion. But the fear was there. It was all-encompassing. It was unavoidable.

And it was feral. Completely and utterly feral.

And there, again, was the issue at the heart of it all.

Sveta hated that she had been born a beastwoman. Why couldn't she have been a regular, boring human? If not for her stupid animalistic features, she wouldn't be caught up in all of this. Her friends were imprisoned, possibly dead, and it was all because of her. The vortex near the lighthouse had made her sick. The sickness had led her to Bilibin. And then the delirium had forced her instincts to the forefront, making her do many things she regretted and alienating Karis, her former best friend.

If she has just been a human, she would have stayed in Belinsk. When Matthew came to visit her, and they shared their feelings for each other, there would have been no reason to keep it secret with the interspecies aspect out of the way. She could have asked him to stay with her. She and Matthew could have fought off the Tuaparang easily with their combined abilities, and then if Bilibin still declared war, they could have won that one, too. Every problem would have been solved, and Morgal would have enjoyed an era of peace led by Queen Sveta... and King Matthew.

But no, she was a beastwoman, she had been kidnapped alone, and in her weakened state her beloved might just have given his life to save hers. Her wretched, useless life. She was not worth it. She should have just let Matthew go, told him to find someone else. Karis, maybe. Then they'd all still be friends, and Matthew would still be alive. Maybe he and Karis could have even raised a family. Would Sveta have been able to do that for him? She couldn't say. But she doubted it. Who knew if humans and beastmen were even compatible that way?

She cursed her own fate. She cursed her entire life. She felt she deserved the pain. Karis was right to hate her.

There was a loud "thump" in the distance, followed by a rush of air. Real air, this time. Real wind.

As a few stray strands of hair swayed in front of her face, her pulse quickened, her mind raced, and terror siezed her again.

But this time, she quietly begged for the wind to take her away.

* * *

"Well, I can see the floor from here," Isaac said, leaning over the hole he had created. "Interesting idea, Maddie. I didn't think it would work."

Maddie blushed and smiled. "Well, thanks, I'm just glad I could-"

"Well, let's go!" Isaac interrupted. "Back soon, Rief. Keep an eye out. If we need you, we'll send someone to get you." He jumped down, followed by Jenna, Garet and Ivan, and suddenly Rief and Maddie were alone.

Maddie frowned. "Is... is he normally like this? Isaac, I mean."

Rief shook his head. "He's a nice guy, I think... but I've never seen him in this sort of situation. I guess he's in leader-mode right now."

"But why wouldn't he let you join them? You wouldn't be any trouble. I mean... you're a hero yourself, apparently. Aren't you?" She put her hands behind her back and stared at her toes.

"I think it's more that he knows his team, he knows they've got more experience, and doesn't feel like the younger generation has much to teach him." Rief sighed. "We screwed up a bunch of times in our own adventure. The Grave Eclipse was, in a way, our..." He paused, deciding exactly how honest to be. "It was our burden to bear. If Isaac and his group had been in our place, I think they would have done it better."

"But you did it," Maddie replied. "And that's what's important. If no one had stepped up, Angara would be a wasteland by now. You did it when no one else could, and that makes you a hero. You saved lives."

She swallowed. "You saved my life. You saved my brother's life twice. How could I ever have thought I could measure up to you?"

"Maddie-"

"No, it's alright," she interrupted. "I was... silly. But I was overwhelmed at the time. My parents were good friends with the Adepts in Vault, but I've never left the city. Psynergy is something I had only read about until yesterday. You were like a hero from my stories, showing up out of nowhere with your... well, your magic. I was starstruck. You're smart, you're brave, you're... well, you're cute, to be honest... and what do I have going for me?"

She sat and buried her face in her hands. "I'm just a common peasant girl. I'm sorry to have bothered you."

Rief kneeled and put his hands on her shoulders. "No, see, that's not true! Look, you live in a city where people who so much as talk to my kind are put to death, and yet you took me in and gave me all the help I asked for. If I'd been an Earth Adept, you apparently had the know-how already to help me save my friends."

She rubbed her eyes. "But I've spent all this time making an idiot of myself. I can't believe I proposed to you already, and... and I'm not that forward, I promise! Not usually. You're just someone different, and special, and... I'm rambling."

"But I'm not special. I'm just a normal person," Rief said as he sat down next to her. "You've saved lives too, you know. Just now, in fact. We both know that if those goofs had gone charging in blindly, they'd have been killed. The Warriors of Vale are all too used to being miles and miles beyond anyone else. They haven't had to deal with an actual physical challenge in decades. You told them a better way, and now they're going to save their kids, too. So really, if it wasn't for you, all of them would be dead or in danger. You're a hero, too."

She was silent for a moment. "Thanks," she said, but she didn't smile.

"I'm kind of sorry I almost stormed out on you," he said. "I mean, if I hadn't, I wouldn't have bumped into Isaac, and then we'd still have a dilemma on our hands, but... well, I'll be honest: all that 'destined to be together' stuff kind of intimidated me. It scared me a little. When we first met, I thought you were out of MY league, actually, but all the obsession put me off to the point where I wanted to be anywhere but there."

"You thought I was... out of your league?" Maddie said slowly.

"Well, yeah," Rief said matter-of-factly. "You're incredibly attractive. Perfect figure, beautiful brown hair, striking green eyes... and here I am, a dorky kid with glasses, bad hair and heavy winter clothing."

She grabbed his arm and gave a quick squeeze. "You've got muscles, though. And yeah, you're a bit dorky, but in an adorable way."

Rief blushed. "Muscles... uh, wow, I never thought of myself that way," he said. "But I guess you're right. That's what happens when you spend months running through the wilds with a group of natural-born fighters."

Maddie sighed happily. "Running through the wilds... see? You're exactly like someone from a storybook! So I thought we must be destined to be together. The hero gets the girl, you know? I thought I was that girl."

Rief stood up. "Real life doesn't work that way. Love isn't 'destiny.' You meet, you learn about each other, you like each other, and you get closer and closer until you decide you could stand to be with them for the rest of your lives. Sometimes people fall in love and then break apart."

"Yeah, but... but not everyone..." Maddie stammered.

"You know my mom dated Isaac for a bit before I was born?" Rief said. "That obviously didn't work out. They had fun, sure, but if they'd gone straight into marriage, they would've been miserable. They dated instead, and that turned out great. That's the way to go. So... I mean..."

Rief twiddled his thumbs for a moment. "I stand by all the stuff I said earlier... and I don't know how things are going to pan out after this, I mean, these sorts of events tend to lead into others... But at some point, assuming I survive... maybe we can, I don't know... go for a drink or something? Start slow?" Rief shrugged, his face red and his words rapid. "I-I mean not a DRINK drink, just a coffee, maybe, and that's assuming you're still interested, and, and when I said _start slow_ I didn't mean-"

Maddie wrapped her arms around her knees and beamed. "Really? I mean, y-yeah! Sure. I like that, yeah, whatever, let's see, sure. Look me up when you get back. I mean, ask around. You know where I live, you could probably just knock on the door..."

"Okay."

There was an awkward silence.

"Sooo..." Maddie said. "Your mom dated Isaac? That's, uh, also impressive. She must've done something worth talking about."

Rief stiffened. "Yeah... I guess so, except..." He paused, and then let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding. "Alright, I'll be honest – I was worried about telling you everything earlier because I was genuinely concerned you would have a stroke. But... my mom is Mia of Imil."

Maddie looked up at Rief in shock. "She is?" she asked. She forced herself to breathe slowly and evenly. "...Sorry. I'm trying not to get excited, but... wait, that means Isaac and Mia were... dating for a while?"

Rief shrugged. "It wasn't for long, but..." He trailed off, seeing that his friend had covered her mouth with both hands. He could see the ends of a very wide smile peeking out on either side.

He rolled his eyes. "They're real people, you know!" he shouted. But she barely even heard him, so embroiled she was in her own daydreams.

* * *

"That was both impressive and terrifying," Kraden said as he hurried after Karis. "I've never seen anything like that."

"They had it coming," she replied smugly. "Honestly, I didn't know metal could tear like that."

Kraden shuddered. "I didn't know you could _bisect someone by kicking them_ like that."

Karis laughed. "Again, they had it coming. Call it karmic retribution. Anyway, two doors!" She pointed to the doors on either side of the exit staircase. "You think one of them has a way to shut off the psynergy traps, right?"

Kraden nodded. "I'm fairly sure. I think I heard someone talking about it, but I don't know which is which."

Karis nodded, and pointed to the door on her left. "Let's start with this one."

She kicked it down and it skidded across the room. The one soldier inside stood quickly and grabbed at his spear, but all it took to stop him in his tracks was a stern look from Karis.

"Get over there," she said, "up against the wall. No sudden movements. You think I'm bluffing, you might want to look at your two friends outside."

The guard nodded shakily and flattened himself against the opposite wall, far away from where his spear leaned against a table. "...So that's what the squishing sounds were..." he muttered in a panic.

The room had a table and two chairs in the center and a desk at the far end. Right next to the door was a cabinet, unremarkable except for the large padlock on it.

"What's in there?" Kraden asked.

Karis shrugged. "Let's find out!" She reached out, grabbed the padlock and yanked hard.

It didn't budge.

She frowned. "And I was on such a roll, too..." she said. "Hey, you! Where's the key to this thing?"

The guard sputtered for a moment before forming coherent syllables. "Th-the key to the evidence chest is over there, top drawer on the desk! P-please don't hurt me, I have a wife and kids-"

"Nah, you're fine," Karis said. She pulled the desk drawer open and fished around through several papers and pens before finding a single bronze key. "Evidence chest? You don't mean..."

She hurried back over to the cabinet and unlocked it excitedly. With great relish, she threw open the doors, and her face lit up.

"Ohohohoh, _yes,_" she exclaimed as she drew her Sylph Rapier from the pile of stacked weapons. "Here's Matthew's Sol Blade, too, and Tyrell's Herculean Axe. But... Rief's weapon isn't here. I guess he wasn't arrested."

Kraden shook his head. "I suppose not. That's good for him, but bad for us. Hopefully he didn't go far."

"Yeah..." Karis said with a frown. "Well, let's check out that other door."

As she and Kraden walked across the hallway, they heard rapid footsteps from behind them. Turning to look, they saw the guard making a break for it further into the prison.

Karis raised a hand and prepared to launch an elemental assault, but hesitated. What if the traps ran simultaneously throughout the complex?

By the time she realized how silly that would be – of course they were localized, otherwise they'd potentially injure every prisoner in the complex whenever somebody cast a spell – the guard had already turned a corner in the direction they had come from.

"Damn," Karis said. "Well, he's unarmed. He won't be able to do any harm."

Kraden opened the door on the right side of the hallway. He stared blankly into it. "Oh... oh, dear," he said.

Karis peeked in over his shoulder. The room was full of wires, a massive system of boxes, levers and knobs lining each wall.

Kraden smiled nervously. "Well, if anyone can solve this, you can, Karis!" he said. "Good luck."

Karis frowned. "...Thanks, I guess," she said, before going in to look for a shutoff switch.

* * *

Sveta heard footsteps from outside her cell. She barely acknowledged them. She didn't care. What did it matter to her?

Then a familiar figure came into view, a profile that warmed her heart.

"...Cannot be..." she said weakly. She coughed, flecks of blood landing on the floor. "M-Matthew?" she begged.

The man turned toward her, and only then did she see the neatly trimmed beard along his jawline.

"Who...?" he started to say. But just then, more footsteps came from the other direction.

Sveta didn't move to look. She simply listened to the events as they began to unfold, watched the man in front of her and his three companions as they came to battle positions.

She heard footsteps. Loud clanking. A guard

"Y-You aren't supposed to be here-" came an unsteady voice from somewhere off in space.

Sveta felt mild worry for a moment. She did not know who these people were, but they might not know the danger they were in.

But all four of the people Sveta could see raised their hands simultaneously toward the clanking, and a swell of power filled the air as they prepared to attack the guard who had arrived onscene.

A glimmer of rationality crystallized in Sveta's mind as time seemed to slow to a crawl.

_That is an incredible amount of psynergy,_ Sveta thought. _I have never felt so much in my life. I do not know who these people are, but they must be talented Adepts._

_But they do not know about the prison's psynergy drain system, do they? Otherwise they would not have risked this. In a moment, they will be powerless, and I..._

Her thoughts whirled for a moment, unable to quite comprehend the truth. _I will be dead._

Oddly, the knowledge that her time had come brought her peace. There was nothing she could do about it, and at least it would end her pain. The problems of the physical world no longer bothered her. Her country? It would thrive, or it would fall. She could do nothing about it. The Tuaparang? Maybe they would enslave the free world. It no longer mattered to her.

She didn't blame Karis for her death, either. If Sveta had been at her full strength, the backlash from this amount of psynergy probably would have killed her anyway, or at least left her on the brink. Karis had tried her best. She worked to free the two of them, and didn't know how much it was hurting Sveta to do so. Sveta smiled inwardly. She forgave Karis. All was forgiven.

As several jets of light – a heat ray, a lightning bolt, an etheral sword, a wave of fire – came forth from the adepts before her, there was only one thought left for Sveta, one concern, and that came straight from the heart. She wanted to see Matthew again. Of course he was still alive – she had no doubt anymore. A little shock like that wouldn't finish him off. He had to be elsewhere in the prison.

But she would never see him again. She could never say goodbye, never tell him how much he truly meant to her. Never beg him to move on and find someone else once she was gone.

She hoped that he would do it on his own. It didn't matter to her how much he loved her; all she knew was that he meant the world to her, and as long as he was happy, she would be okay.

_Goodbye, Matthew, my love,_ she thought as the ceiling finally began to glow. She closed her eyes and waited for the darkness to take her. _I will miss y-_

* * *

"Found it!" Karis announced cheerfully as she pulled a switch on the wall.

* * *

_-ou._

There was a quick flash, and suddenly darkness. But the pain was still present.

Sveta opened her eyes. She was still alive.

"Oops," the red-haired man in the group said, "I guess Maddie warned us about that. What happened, did we break it or something?"

"Maybe we overdid it," the red-haired woman said. "Wow, though, that was cool-"

The tall blonde man – the one who resembled Matthew – took a step toward Sveta's cell. "Guys, hold on. Look! She's hurt. Oh gosh, she's barely alive."

He ran into the cell and shook Sveta lightly. She looked at his face. "You... are not Matthew..." she mumbled.

The man's eyes widened. "Jenna! Go get Rief, right the heck now!"

"But-"

"NOW!"

The red-haired woman nodded and ran off.

* * *

Mia jerked awake as the airship settled down.

"Mhwha...?" she said eloquently.

Felix opened the cockpit door and, noticing for the first time that she was awake, kneeled down to be face-to-face. "Hey, thanks for taking care of Karst," he said.

"No problem," she replied. "What's going on?"

"The Empyror tried to kill us, so we escaped. You were unconscious," he responded.

Mia frowned, confused. "He tried to kill us? Why would he do that? Did you do something wrong?"

Karst sat up. "He's a PSYCHOPATH, you twit!" she shouted. "He tried to kill us because we aren't with him anymore!"

Mia sat up and stretched. She sighed happily. "Obviously there's been some misunderstanding," she said. "Let's go back and talk things over."

"Oh, no..." Felix began.

Mia continued heedlessly. "I mean, he's an agreeable guy, right? If he's mad, we should find out why. Maybe we can make it up to him. We shouldn't be wasting time trying to run away. He's unstoppable. He'll find us."

"Mia," Felix said, "you're under his thrall. He's done things to your mind. He did the same to me. I know how tough it is to break through, but if I can do it, so can you. We need your help in this."

Mia laughed. "Under his thrall? I'm no slave of his. Everything I do is completely of my own will." She folded her hands in her lap and looked dreamily at the ceiling. "I just happen to think that he's really, really great, and that maybe we should give him a chance. Okay?"

Felix sighed.

"That rat-bastard stuck me in a tube for TWENTY GODDAMN YEARS!" Karst shouted.

Mia rolled her eyes. "I wonder why?" she said sarcastically.

"Mia, seriously-" Felix started, but Karst cut him off.

"Alright, blue-hair, let's get one thing straight. I'm not killing you. Not now, at least. I won't even talk about it until we're through with this, for Felix's sake. Mark my words, one day I'm the woman who is going to end your life, but that day is not today. Something's going on here that's bigger than the two of us, and you need to smarten the hell up and STOP BEING BRAINWASHED!"

Mia blinked and stared blankly. "Wow, uh..." She opened her mouth, and closed it again. "Okay, cool."

"Glad we understand each other," Karst said angrily.

Felix cleared his throat. "So, are you with us, then?"

Mia smiled. "Yup! Of course. Always."

"Good. So the plan is-"

"Unless you're against The Empyror. Then I'll have to pick and choose."

Felix smacked himself on the head.

Karst got red in the face and prepared to unleash another verbal onslaught, but Felix held up a hand to silence her.

"Okay! So, we're in Bilibin. They're being oppressed by a dictator. Lady McCoy's her name. We're going to go free the people. Want to help?" he said.

"Lady McCoy's still around?" Mia asked.

Felix shook his head. "This is a different one. More competent, more evil. She's married to Lord McCoy the 2nd, and she's the power behind the throne, just like the last one. She's probably been committing all sorts of crimes against humanity, I dunno."

Mia shrugged. "Well, okay. Let's go, then. Just hold on a second."

She extended a hand and finished healing Karst's leg. "There you go, for what it's worth. And how about you, Felix? Any injuries?"

"Still feeling a little nauseous from the plane ride, but..." He trailed off as Mia stood bolt-upright.

"Felix, what the hell!" she shouted. "You're practically _dying._"

Karst's eyes widened. "He's what?"

Mia nodded seriously. "Felix, I don't know what happened to you, but most of your organs are just barely hanging in there. Your heart and lungs are mostly fine, thankfully, but I actually can't understand how your liver and kidneys are still working. You should be dead. You should be LONG dead, how are you even-"

Felix frowned. "It must be the Djinn," he said. "I've got a lot on me. They make you a bit more tenacious... I guess they're the only things still holding me together."

Mia folded her arms. "That sword of yours. How long have you been wielding it?" she asked sternly.

Felix shrugged. "Since I lost the old one. It's been years, I don't remember how many."

"You've been letting that thing eat away at your life force for that long?" Mia said, jabbing him in the chest with a finger. "You idiot, Felix! You could be dead! You SHOULD be dead! Just... hold on a second..."

Felix looked at Karst nervously. She looked up at him, mouth slightly agape.

Mia poured out healing psynergy with all of her might. "I'm doing my best, but you need bedrest. When we're through with this, you need to take it easy. I can help your recovery but I can't do it all at once. You can't just fix organs like that, you need to either let them heal on their own or replace them altogether." She paused and put a hand to her chin thoughtfully. "Actually... maybe there's something I could try... but it'd be really risky, and you apparently don't need help urgently. Just take it easy."

Karst's head snapped toward Mia. "Something you could try? What is it? Can you save him?"

Mia shrugged. "It's just that... well, healing psynergy is weird. I could replace a limb that someone just removed, but long-term damage is something I can only hurry along. So, I guess if you were to take out his organs, I could replace them."

Felix put up his hands quickly. "Whoa, uh... don't... yeah, I'm fine. I'll live."

"If you need someone you can trust to do it for you," Karst said earnestly to Felix, "I'm still here. You know I'd be the safest bet."

Felix cleared his throat. "We need to get moving. There's no time for, uh, experimental surgery right now. Especially not on me."

Karst closed her eyes. "At least let me give you the extra djinn. Every bit counts."

"Well... thanks," Felix said. "That might help, actually."

Karst nodded. She gave him a heartfelt smile, and then took his hand. A few suppressed flashes of light later, she was slouching a little more, and he was standing a little straighter.

"Thanks a lot, Karst," Felix said. "We won't be long."

Karst's smile faded. "Wait, what? You won't... wait, you're leaving without me?"

Felix nodded sadly. "I wish I could bring you along. I really do. But... it would be difficult. It'd be a risk. For one, I'd have to carry you, and even if I gave you the djinn back so you could do your flying thing, that would attract a lot of unwanted attention. We need to do this quietly."

"But-"

"I'm sorry, Karst," he said. "If I had told you before, you would've argued. And no offense, but... sneaking around isn't exactly your forte."

"...So I'm just a burden, then?" she asked, baring her fangs. "Because of these stupid, useless legs? Just take me with you! I'll show you... how..."

She closed her eyes and flopped over, unconscious.

Felix stooped to catch her. "Karst? What happened?"

He turned to Mia and saw her stuffing a blank card into her robe. She shrugged. "I couldn't see this ending well, so I put her to sleep. We can apologize later."

She stepped out of the airship, ignoring Felix's betrayed expression. "You coming, or what?" she asked.

Felix looked at Karst, sleeping peacefully on the chairs.

"I'm sorry, love," he whispered in her ear. "We won't be long."

He then stood, retrieved his sword, and turned to follow Mia.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_EDIT: First Sveta section is heavily changed, all references to "voices" are now gone. She's hurt badly enough, no need to give her a personality disorder on top of that.  
_

_This was a fun chapter to write, mood whiplash aside. For those of you who think the "Felix is dying" thing didn't get enough of a setup, I'd like to point out that I foreshadowed it in the original draft of Chapter Fucking Nine._

_And yeah, I could've written out Karis's fight scene with the two guards, but as you might infer from the text, it would've been really short, and really, really gruesome._

_Mia's flip-flopping a lot in her emotions and actions, yes. That is intentional. If there's bad writing in this chapter, that is not it._

_By the way, I've done some minor edits to previous chapters. Maddie now has a visual description in her first introduction (repeated somewhat in this chapter), and Rief is more obviously interested her at first glance. He's still scared away by her craziness, though. I also fixed some minor contradictions and factual issues. I'm not saying this so people will go back and read (you probably won't notice what I changed) but I do listen to what people say, and I do fix things once in a while!_

_Time for some review responses! There are a few big ones I'd like to tackle here._

_DocRetcon: This review came in as I was finishing up the chapter, so it's fresh in my mind. First off, I'm glad you like the story! That's a good feeling. Thanks for the criticisms, too. I'll take them into account, but I'd also like to address them. _

_The Empyror/Chalis thing is something I sort of regret now because, yes, it goes against a lot of stuff in Dark Dawn that escaped my notice. I never got the feeling that Blados and Chalis were going rogue, but apparently some other people did. I just thought they were trying to shoot the Apollo Lens at a different target. It's no longer possible to write that out of the story, so I've decided to more or less ignore it._

_The Matthew/Sveta thing is something I understand, too... I've never really READ a romance story, so I figure a lot of the conflict probably comes from them trying to make it work. But right here, they haven't exactly had a chance to disagree at any point. That doesn't mean it isn't going to happen (like you said, it makes things interesting), but so far they got together in Belinsk, went their separate ways for a bit, met up in Bilibin where Sveta was sick, and then went straight to the palace and then into prison. They haven't had any alone time except for the bit in the hotel. Rief is partly voicing my own opinion in this chapter; real-life romance DOESN'T work that way. Matthew and Sveta will inevitably find hardship. It's just that they haven't yet, and all of their encounters for the last little bit have done nothing but bring them closer together._

_I'm trying to make a habit of NOT explaining story details in review responses (since nobody reads them but the person I'm responding to), but Duskshipping in this case works because when Felix was taken to Prox, Karst was the closest friend he had. Saturos and Menardi saved him, he was put up in Menardi's home, and Karst did her best to teach him how things worked up north. They gradually drew closer until becoming an established couple just before the lighthouse excursion. They fight on Jupiter Lighthouse because she feels that he's betrayed her, not the other way around. Now that you've mentioned it, I'm probably going to expand upon that a bit in the future, either in-story or in an Extra._

_Anyway, thanks for that comprehensive review! There's a lot of stuff to work with in there. I'll do my best!_

_JamesK716: This is why I felt last chapter was terrible._

_Isaac's group: "Hahaha, let's ignore Rief!" *Rief makes a comically disapproving face*_

_Felix's group: "Oh no, airsickness!" *Felix makes a comically nauseous face*_

_Karis: "Take this, rapefiends!" *Karis comically kicks a man in the balls*_

_Sveta: *Sveta lies motionless on the floor of a dank prison cell, slowly bleeding to death*_

_I can't quite say how long it'll be before the end because I don't know how much time will be spent in [DATA EXPUNGED]. But I have 5 chapters outlined already, and there's a ways to go before the end after that. I estimate... 20ish? Maybe less, maybe more. We'll see how it pans out. But the story's definitely more than halfway over._

_goldensun1126: I was playing on RPG tropes a little in that chapter. Isaac's team was thinking almost entirely in game terms – if you were playing Golden Sun and a section like that appeared, you'd do EXACTLY what Isaac was doing. You walk around, look for cracks to Burst, look for vines to Grow(th), and when all else fails, spam Reveal. Talking to the NPCs is a distant last option. But the realistic reason was discussed in this chapter, too – Isaac and his team still don't really recognize the new generation as competent adventurers, despite their achievements. This will come up again._


	41. Awkward Zone Intensified

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"Is that who I think it is?" Ivan asked with eyes full of dread. "Oh, geez... that looks _bad..._"

Garet alternated looking between his two friends. "What? Who is it?"

"We saw her before, Garet. Remember in Belinsk Castle, back when we were searching for the Roc Feather?" Isaac shook his head grimly. "It's little Sveta, Garet. She's all grown up now, and I shouldn't need to remind you why I'm PARTICULARLY interested in keeping her alive right at this moment. I'm going to do what I can for her here, but if Rief doesn't get here soon..."

Isaac kneeled down next to Sveta and held his hands out above her. He belted out the most potent Cure he could muster and then began to look through his pack. "Sveta, can you hear me? My wife's getting help right now, you're gonna be okay." He took out a small vial of clear liquid. "Can you drink this for me?"

He uncapped it and held it to her throat as she nodded. He poured it down her throat; she choked, coughing hard for several seconds, but most of it went down and stayed down. Sveta shuddered and began to breathe heavily. She was far from stable, but still leagues better than she had been.

"Who are you?" she gasped. "You look like my..."

"My name's Isaac. I'm Matthew's father. Do you know where the others are?"

Sveta shook her head. "Matthew and Tyrell are elsewhere in the prison, maybe. Kraden is here too. Karis escaped. Not sure where she went."

Isaac nodded and turned to his friends. "You guys, go try to find the others. If you run into anyone, bring them back here-"

"Nononono!" Sveta said quickly. She spoke at a feverish pace, as if unable to help herself. "Not Karis. Keep Karis away, please, please..."

The three adults looked at her, perplexed.

She shuddered again. "I am sorry, my head is still cloudy. I think it is an aftereffect of the..."

Her eyes widened and her pupils dilated. She whimpered loudly. "Nooo..." she whined.

Ivan stepped closer to the open cell door. "What did Karis do? What happened?" he asked urgently.

Sveta extended a shaky hand toward the ceiling. "The traps, they... Karis had to set them off to escape. Over and over... over and over again... they hurt me..."

Ivan smacked his head. "Of course! Psynergy traps. She couldn't have known-"

"I told her," Sveta whispered. "She did not listen. I... I forgive her, she needed to escape... help the others..." Her head fell back as she once again lost the strength to support herself. "...Matthew... is he alive? Please..."

Isaac lifted her head back off the ground and sent another Cure through her. "You're asking if he's alive? You mean he might not be?" He shook her lightly. "Come on, girl. Stay with me. This is the last thing I need to know."

Sveta gave another shuddering cough.

"...He saved me..." she said slowly. "Please find... him..."

Then she closed her eyes and lost consciousness.

Ivan and Garet stood in silence while Isaac remained kneeling. "She's still alive," the Earth Adept said. He checked her pulse. "Heart's still beating, and she's still breathing. She was probably in a lot of pain; it's good that she's got a break from that for now."

He let her go and sat against the stone wall of the cell. "Guys, I need you to find the others. Go as quickly as you can. I'll stay with the girl."

His eyes contained something Ivan had never seen before, and that Garet had seen only once, thirty-three years before. Helplessness.

"Please," Isaac said, "bring my son back safe."

The two hurried further into the prison, leaving Isaac alone with his thoughts.

* * *

Having found a convenient bench near the makeshift prison entrance, Maddie and Rief sat down together to wait for news from the adults.

They had both been silent for a good long time.

Rief took off his glasses, looked through them at the moonlight, breathed on them, and wiped off some dirt.

Maddie fidgeted with her dress.

"I-I mean, it's not that I wished you had never been born or anything! Er, that came out wrong," she stammered, "I just kind of thought... y'know..."

Rief put his glasses back on slowly. He turned his head slowly toward her, his eyelids half-closed. "Really, Maddie? This again?"

She blushed. "It was out of line! I'm sorry! I just... the way they made it out in the stories, Isaac and Mia were really going to..." She shut her mouth and forced her gaze away from Rief's.

Rief sighed.

Maddie bit her lip.

"I forgive you," Rief said, "it's just... it feels really weird to hear about someone who apparently hoped that my mom would've gotten together with somebody else."

"...I know..." Maddie apologized.

"It doesn't matter. But, ah... don't mention this to Jenna, okay?" Rief cautioned. "It can't possibly end well."

Maddie nodded, but didn't speak.

The awkward silence returned to fill the air as sure as if it had never left.

Which made it all the more startling when Jenna poked her head out of the prison hole. The pair jumped at the sound of her voice piercing the darkness.

"Rief! Come quick! We found an injured prisoner, we need your help!"

Rief got to his feet so quickly that he almost tripped. Once he regained his balance, he began moving toward the hole. "A prisoner? Do you recognize them?"

Jenna shook her head. "Beastgirl, long lavender braids. Kind of foxish. Probably pretty when her face isn't all bloody."

"Oh geez," Rief gasped. "That sounds like Sveta. Okay, I'll be right down."

He turned to his friend on the nearby bench. "You'll be okay 'til I get back, right?" he asked.

Maddie nodded sadly and gave a silent wave goodbye.

Rief began to speak again, but Jenna looked off into the distance. She held up a hand for silence.

"Listen," she hissed.

Rief followed her gaze. After a moment, he heard whispering.

"No, just- dammit, no! Hold still, I don't want-"

"_They need me-_"

"They've got- agh, wait, _wait!_"

Rief's eyes widened as a familiar form came around the corner, albeit dressed in a somewhat darker outfit than he was used to seeing.

"Mom!" he shouted. "You're okay!"

Jenna launched herself out of the hole and ran in Mia's direction. Mia tilted her head in confusion, but raised a hand to wave.

Before she could speak, Jenna shoved Mia out of the way and tackled the cloaked figure several feet behind her.

"It IS you!" she cried. "I... we thought you were dead! You've been gone for so long! You have no idea... Felix, I've missed you so much..."

Felix gently returned his sister's hug. As she sobbed happily in his arms, he looked around nervously. His eyes caught Rief's for a second, and Rief could see that he was full of apprehension. The young Mercury Adept hesistated - this was the same Felix, right? He wondered if he should get ready for a fight, but ultimately decided against it; Felix wouldn't be very threatening with his arms pinned to his sides as they were.

Instead, Rief smiled at his mother as she got to her feet. Mia glared in Jenna's direction, but cheered up as she approached her son.

"Hey, Rief! You look well," she said. "Aaaand you must be Maddie! Sorry, we were eavesdropping. It was Felix's idea. Nice to meet you, I'm Mia."

She extended a hand. Maddie froze for a second and looked away shyly. She then leapt to her feet and rushed over to take Mia's hand. "I've heard so much about you! You're my favorite- I, I mean you're... I know you! I mean, I don't KNOW know you, but-"

"I understand," Mia said. She turned to her son and grinned. "You have good taste in women," she said smugly.

Rief blanched. Maddie grinned from ear to ear.

"So, what's this about an injured prisoner?" Mia finally asked. "Who is it, and why are they so important to you?"

Rief shook his head. "Not me. Sveta's the girl we saw in the cave in Imil, remember? Turns out she's dating Matthew. They've only been together for like, a week or something, but they're getting a little serious." He adjusted his glasses. "Also, she's the queen of Morgal. I guess I should've mentioned that first, really."

Mia blinked. "Oh. Uh, wow, okay. I should get to that, then. Keep your girl company, I'll be back soon. I've got lots to tell you about where I just came from!"

"My what? _She's not my-_"

Maddie interrupted. "It's been great, Miss Mia! Really, thanks! I... uh, thanks! Your son really seems to take after you. In a good way, I mean."

"Just Mia will do!" she replied with a laugh. "And I'm just glad I finally got to meet my future daughter-in-law. Take care, you two! I'll be back in a bit."

While Maddie's expression was frozen in ecstacy, Rief simply stood mortified.

Jenna glanced back at the hole as Mia jumped down. She wiped the tears from her eyes and grabbed Felix's wrist.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," she said as she began to drag her brother along, "but you're coming with me for now. You're going to help us save your nephew."

Jenna and Felix followed Mia into the prison, and the two youths were alone outside once more.

"Y-you heard that, right?" Maddie asked. "I didn't just imagine it?"

Rief swallowed. He didn't answer. He simply shambled over to the bench and collapsed into it. He sat staring at his hands as his friend hurried over.

"I know everybody in the books, but Sheba's the one who can see the future, right? Or... or did the authors get it wrong, and it was Mia? Can your mom see the future?"

Rief blinked. "Nope. It's Sheba," he said.

Maddie grinned. "Well, doesn't matter I suppose! It was so exciting to finally meet her! I can't believe she approves- I mean, she likes me! The great healer, the warrior from the north who takes the old cliche of the gentle healer and kicks it to the curb... she thinks I'm good enough for her son!"

Maddie sank into her seat. Rief's face sank into his hands.

"I feel like I could just _die,_" they said simultaneously and for very different reasons.


	42. Easy Come, Easy Go

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Garet led the way down the prison halls. Ivan followed closely, but Garet was taller and had a longer stride, not to mention that he was motivated by the need to find his son.

Ivan had no such need. He knew his daughter was okay... physically, at least.

It still concerned him deeply that she had apparently decided her friend's life was an acceptable sacrifice for her own safety.

There were many missing pieces to the puzzle; Ivan still didn't know the whole situation. He hadn't even had a chance to scan Sveta's mind for the truth yet. The urgent task of finding Matthew and Tyrell had to come first. But... it was worrying. Karis was gone from her cell, Sveta was bleeding and cowering at the very mention of his daughter's name, and... wait, if Karis had escaped, why hadn't she taken Sveta with her? Something was very wrong. Ivan would never have done something like that. Hadn't he taught Karis better?

His train of thought was interrupted when Garet spoke. "I think I've found 'em!" he declared.

"What makes you so sure?" Ivan asked. "I don't see them."

Garet pointed down a branch in the hallway they were in. At the end of it was a large pile of rubble torn off of the wall, and a ring of keys sitting abandoned in the middle of the floor.

"Guess my son tried to escape," Garet said with a shrug. "Doesn't look like it went so well."

Tyrell called out as he heard the adults' voices. "HEY! Over here! Let us out!"

Garet chuckled and ran to set his son free. Ivan followed a little more slowly.

On one side of the hall was Tyrell's cell, the shackles apparently broken; whether they were like that beforehand or whether Tyrell himself had broken them was unclear. But Matthew was passed out in his own cell opposite. Once Garet had set Tyrell free, Ivan took the keys for himself and got to work reviving the other boy.

He found a pulse immediately. Good. "Tyrell, how's Matthew doing? Was he awake at any point earlier?" Ivan asked.

Tyrell nodded. "He didn't seem too good, though. Quiet, a little uncoordinated. They dragged him here unconscious. I used a fireball to try to blow the keys over here at one point, and then the ceiling glowed and... uh, we both passed out for a bit."

Ivan nodded. "Well, he's still alive, so that's a plus. Has Karis come by this way?"

Tyrell shook his head. Ivan frowned. This hadn't exactly been an out-of-the-way route. Why would she have simply bypassed her friends like this?

Ivan shook Matthew lightly. The boy stirred, and then slowly opened his eyes.

"Hi, Ivan..." Matthew muttered. "When'd you show up?"

Ivan shook his head. "Now's not the time. Sveta's hurt. You'd better come with us."

Matthew immediately tried to sit up, but his strength faltered halfway through and he fell back down to the floor panting.

"Help... help me up..." he said.

Ivan and Garet looked at each other. "Uh... are you sure you're okay to walk?" Garet asked. "One of us could always carry you-"

"HELP ME UP!" Matthew growled.

Tyrell hurried and took Matthew's hand. He pulled the Venus adept to his feet and then supported him with his shoulders. Matthew nodded in thanks.

"Lead on," he said simply.

And Matthew staggered onward as the adults began to retrace their steps.

* * *

"Okay, Maddie," Rief began, "there's something you need to understand. We just met today. Yes, I admit I'm a little... uh, I'm moderately interested. But I don't care what my mother said – you aren't going to end up her 'future daughter-in-law' unless I say so. I don't know you well enough for that idea to do anything but freak me out, and frankly, your reaction isn't helping matters."

Maddie smiled confidently. "Well, SHE said you had good taste in women. I think that means she likes me."

"I think she said that because you told her that she was, in your words, your favorite," Rief countered.

"She's confident in me!" Maddie continued, ignoring Rief. "She believes I've got what it takes to be with you, so it doesn't matter how things are now – I'll earn it eventually. I can handle it!"

Her hands were clenched into fists and there was a fire in her eyes Rief had never noticed before. He pondered, idly, if she really was that obsessed, that deluded, to be so easily motivated by a simple sentence? A sentence she misinterpreted, no less? He was happy for her that she had found so much self-confidence out of nowhere, but... it had some truly tragic implications for him.

Now he wondered if this clingy, scary fangirl could EVER be shaken off... if he wanted to. He felt that he hadn't given her a fair chance. She had had several sensible moments since they had met, right? She just got sort of like, uh, this, every time she met someone she considered a celebrity. So maybe once he got to know her better, her normal side would show through a little more, and...

He chided himself mentally. Would he be giving her this many chances if she WASN'T attractive? Probably not. It was unfair and sexist. He hated himself for doing it. But he was still oddly flattered by her devotion.

_Why the hell am I still thinking about this?_ he asked himself. _My friends are probably dying or something! That is of much, much greater concern!_

Ehhh... his mother could handle it.

Rief groaned. He felt so useless.

"D'you hear something?" Maddie said suddenly.

Snapping back to reality, Rief looked around. He didn't really hear anything, just a low buzz, a murmur from somewhere in the distance.

He blinked. That wasn't a normal nighttime noise.

"...I'm gonna go check it out," he said. "Wait right here."

He didn't have to go far. He turned the corner, looked down a central street, and then walked back to the hole.

His face was pale.

"What is it? Something to worry about?" Maddie asked.

"Oh, nothing, just..." Rief gulped. "Just an angry mob headed our way. No biggie."

* * *

This was not a new situation for Isaac. Not exactly.

As he watched his son's dying girlfriend, he was still finding it somewhat difficult to breathe.

He had been there when Garet had found his wife's corpse. He had been fighting alongside Felix when Karst received what should have been a killing blow. And of course, he had been right next to Jenna, all those years ago when they thought her parents, her brother, and his own father had been lost in the tragedy of Mt Aleph's boulder. But somehow this felt different.

For one, Sveta was still alive. There was still a chance to save her. But he was helpless to do anything – he could just watch as she bled out, and feel her life force drifting away bit by bit. If things had been different, Matthew would have introduced her to him and to Jenna. Isaac would have gotten properly flustered, anxious at the idea that his son was growing up quickly enough that an extended family was just on the horizon.

Matthew might not even be alive anymore. If he was, he might not make it in time. If he made it in time, it might only be to say goodbye. Isaac would have given anything in the world, right then, to make sure Matthew wasn't forced to do that.

Isaac couldn't even comprehend the feeling. What if he lost Jenna? How would that feel? How would he react? He would be broken. He couldn't imagine ever recovering. She just... she made life worth living. And if his son had finally found someone like that, only to have her taken away...

Isaac had done all he could. He knew that, deep down. But it didn't make things any easier.

His ears perked up. Footsteps, several of them, coming down the hallway all at once.

He poked his head out of Sveta's cell. Garet and Ivan approached.

Matthew and Tyrell followed not far behind.

Isaac's heart simultaneously leapt and tore in half. Matthew was alive. He was very badly injured, but alive.

"Where is she?" Matthew asked. No 'Hi Dad,' no 'What brings you here.' Just straight to the point. "Tell me she's still breathing..."

Isaac nodded. "She's right here. She's alive, but... Matthew, I..."

Tyrell, who had been supporting Matthew with his shoulders the entire time, let him go when they reached the cell. Matthew stumbled for a moment, but staggered inside and collapsed next to the broken beastwoman inside.

"...Oh, gods..." he muttered. "Not again... please..."

He took her up in his arms and laid her across his lap. He put a hand on her face, savoring the touch. When he pulled it away, he stared at the blood that came with it.

He burst into tears and hugged her tightly to his chest.

Isaac just watched the display, wishing there was something he could do.

"Your mom's gone to get Rief," Isaac said, "but her wounds are severe. She's probably bleeding internally. Even if he arrives in time... Matthew, I don't know how to say this, but you might want to make your peace now."

"After all this, this is how it ends..." Matthew whispered. "I just... I refuse to believe it. You can make it, Sveta, right? You'll live through this. You have to. Please..."

Sveta's arm twitched. Her eyes opened slowly.

She smiled.

"Matthew... you are alive!" she croaked. "I knew you would be. I was so worried. If that lightning trap had killed you, I just... I do not know what I would..."

She broke off into a coughing fit.

"Don't talk, love," Matthew said. "Save your energy. Rief's on his way, he'll be able to save you, I-"

"Matthew," Sveta interrupted, "it is okay. I am fine now. It still hurts, it hurts so badly, but you are here with me. I am not alone anymore."

She reached one shaky, bloody hand up to hug him. She only barely made it. Matthew brought her tighter into his embrace.

"My parents died years ago. My brother died weeks ago," she said. "I was never allowed to make friends outside of the castle. You and the others... you are the only friends I have ever had. You, especially."

She closed her eyes and smiled sweetly. "I would have been perfectly content to know that we were going to grow old together, to have a family. To simply be together for the rest of our lives. But if that cannot happen... I can still die happily knowing that my final moments were with you."

"No, don't say that!" Matthew shouted. "You'll make it through, you have to! I need you to. Sveta, I can't live without you. Stay with me."

"Trying my best..." she muttered. She laughed weakly. It turned into a wet cough almost immediately. "I am sorry. Thank you for being here with me. You are the most important person in the world to me. If I do not make it, find someone else. Be happy. Live without me. That is all I ask."

Garet suddenly turned and began walking toward the hole they had entered through.

"...I'm sorry," he said, "but I can't be around for this."

Isaac nodded in understanding. This would have brought up painful memories-

"Wait, HEY!" Garet suddenly burst out. "What the hell? When'd you get here?"

Isaac turned. His eyes widened.

"...Mia?"

It took Isaac a second to realize it hadn't been him who spoke. There was Tyrell, grinning like an idiot.

"Mia! It's been so long! It's great to see you!" he said.

She smiled. "Hey, Tyrell," she said. "I'll be with you in a moment. Rief's still outside, I'm just taking his place because he's got other things on his mind. Who's injured?"

Isaac stood and gestured silently toward Matthew and his girlfriend. Mia nodded and strode forward confidently.

She raised her hands and, without warning, became a glowing beacon of psynergy, a wonderful beacon of hope. Sveta shuddered visibly as several wounds closed before everyone's eyes. Matthew gasped as his own weakness was simply lifted away.

Mia lowered her arms.

Sveta groaned loudly and tried to pull herself to her feet. Matthew pulled her back and kissed her firmly on the lips.

Isaac beamed. "Mia, thank you. Thank you _so much._ I don't know how I could ever repay you-"

But Mia waved it away. "Don't worry. It's fine. It was the right thing to do. And anyway, if you do decide to repay me somehow, you might want to wait because Jenna will be by in just a minute or so."

"Oh, uh..." Isaac said, blushing. "Right. That."

Sveta turned and coughed. "Lungs still hurt..." she said, "but thank you. You saved my life."

Matthew nodded. "I don't care what history you may or may not have with my parents. Right now, you are my _second_ favorite person in the world," he said, giving Sveta a very meaningful look.

Garet raised a hand. "Just a question. When did you start talking? I honestly don't think I've ever heard you speak before."

Ivan, Tyrell and Sveta laughed.

Isaac's stomach turned as he and Mia locked eyes for a moment.

"You mean they're already...?" he began. "I mean... yeah, I was quiet, too, until-"

"ISAAC! You'll never guess who I found!"

Jenna marched toward the group, pulling a dark-haired man who was trying his very best to go in the opposite direction-

"...Felix," Ivan said. "What happened? Where've you been for the last three decades?"

Felix growled. "Can we maybe NOT talk about this right now?"

Isaac laughed. It was just such a... FELIX answer.

His son was alive. His son's girlfriend was alive. Mia was here, and Jenna wasn't even trying to murder her. And Felix had resurfaced, against all odds! Everything was going to be okay.

Jenna looked at the group, particularly at the people in the cell.

"Matthew! You're okay! That's great, I've been dying to meet this Sveta girl of yours." She grinned. "You're Sveta, right?" she commented, looking at the contented-looking beastwoman. "I'm Jenna, Matthew's mother. I'm looking forward to getting to know you better."

Finally, she turned her attention to the blue-haired Mercury Adept. Without changing her tone or her expression, she continued. "Mia, you saved their lives. Great. This changes nothing."

Mia shook her head. "Well, not quite. Matthew's going to be okay. Sveta, I'm sorry to say, has the worst lung infection I've ever seen, and I can't clear that up with a Ply."

Matthew's smile faded. Sveta held her hands to her chest as if trying to feel for the infection itself.

"I give you a few hours at most," Mia said matter-of-factly. "You'll probably die choking. It'll be a little painful, I think."

Silence filled the hallway.

Matthew began to shake his head slowly in denial.

"No, no, no... It can't be possible, not after all this..."

* * *

It was so unfair.

First she almost died of pneumonia. Then she almost died again in the prison. Now she only had a few hours left, and there was nothing anyone could do.

Matthew felt his heart ripping in half. He looked at Sveta, gazing into the distance with a forlorn expression. She was still alive. She was completely FULL of life. There was no way...

"Th-there has to be something we can do, something no one's thought of yet..." he said. "I-I mean, a few hours! There's time, right? We can try anything that might work..."

Sveta looked at him sadly. "I am sorry, Matthew. But at least we can make the best of a bad situation, right? We know we have time left. We can make that count, just the two of us."

"But... but no, there's gotta be some way to fix it! We can't have come this far just to... to..."

Matthew squeezed his eyes shut, trying to force the tears back. He wasn't giving up yet. He couldn't, not when they were so close...

Sveta smiled weakly and glanced away bashfully. "I... I think I left something at the inn. Would you maybe, umm, like to help me look for it? I think that is a way I would like to spend my last moments-"

"But they won't BE your last moments!" Matthew sputtered. "We have to find a way, there's gotta be something we can do!"

Mia stood at the cell's entrance, biting her lip. She was holding something back.

"Mia! Please, if there's anything you have in mind," Matthew said, "just say it. Rief told us that he couldn't cure infections like that. But you're a more experienced healer, right? You've got a trick or two you could try?"

Mia bit her thumbnail, unsure. She glanced at Felix. He shook his head forcefully.

She sighed and rolled her eyes. "Okay, you know what? Screw it. I'm trying it anyway."

"Mia, _don't-_"

"You have an idea?" Sveta asked, cautiously hopeful. "Is it... is it something that will give me just a little longer? Because I would appreciate that as well..."

"Well, Miss Sveta," Mia began, "some of us don't like to try new things. Some of us are worried that by experimenting, we might make some mistakes. People don't like making mistakes. But I learned something recently. Move your hands away from your chest for a minute."

Sveta nodded and complied as Mia moved closer.

"You see, sometimes it's better to just move forward with an idea, however dangerous it might sound. Because if you've got a goal, you have to work for it. Life doesn't hand you everything you want. Sometimes you just have to take it!"

"...Something's wrong," Tyrell muttered. "Mia's acting completely-"

"Sometimes you have to reach out and grab what you want, and damn the consequences! You can always fix what you broke later! Complacency is the enemy of progress, and if you want to do something new, something incredible, sometimes you have to take risks and do things some people might not like."

Mia grinned maniacally as she drew her arm back.

"I learned that from the High Empyror of Tuaparang."

All Matthew saw was a flash, and then Mia was next to Sveta.

There was a splatter of blood in the air. Mia's arm was on Sveta's chest – no, IN Sveta's chest -

And the look of surprise and betrayal on Sveta's face filled Matthew's vision, as every other sensation was simply cut out...

* * *

_OVERLY-LONG POST-HIATUS AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Okay! Hiatus over. I'm really sorry to the few people who apparently picked up the story in the interim – you might have ended up reading a few unedited sections. I feel even worse if anybody decided to reread the story while they waited, because that totally wasn't the time to do it! Now is, if you feel so inclined. A lot of the writing has been cleaned up and I generally feel much happier with the story as it stands._

_I apologize that I didn't actually update the extras as often as I said/thought I would. It was partly real life coming into play, partly the lack of urgency letting me ALLOW life to come into play. But you know what they say, when life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade! Make life take the lemons back! Demand to see life's manager! What am I going to do with all these-_

_..._

_Huh._

_Lemon means something REALLY different in fic terms, doesn't it...?_

_..._

_hehe, combustible lemons_

_And, finally, I want to give a shout out to Knight-Dawn's GS: The Mourning Moon fic. I started reading it on a whim recently and it hooked me – the only things I stopped reading it for were sleep and work. It's really engaging, and is definitely worthy of your attention._


	43. Wherein All Dramatic Tension Is Diffused

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"Oh, uh... hey, everybody!" Rief called out hesitantly. "What brings, uh, you lot out on this fine evening? Nice... nice weather for mobbing, I guess...?"

He was barely heard above the rabble of the crowd beginning to surround him and the prison hole.

"That's him!"

"He's the Adept, I saw him the other day!"

"He got me and my sister trapped in the market square!"

Rief gulped. Maddie edged closer to him.

"What are you going to do?" she whispered.

The crowd was full of people holding torches and waving improvised weapons. There were a few city guards that probably got wrapped up in the group when they heard of an Adept sighting. Rief knew that he was in over his head; he had to either run or completely let loose, and there was no way to let loose without killing innocent people. But if he ran, he'd be leaving the prison hole unguarded, and then the others would be in trouble.

He went pale. "I... I don't know," he said. He cleared his throat and waved his hands in the air. "H-hey! Everybody, there's been a misunderstanding! You all need to- HEY!"

A thrown spear and several rocks clattered at his feet. Terrible accuracy, but he knew they'd keep trying. He felt sweat drip down the back of his neck.

"Wait a minute... Madeline?"

A figure pushed itself out of the crowd. Somewhat of a large man, wielding a frying pan as a club. "Madeline, what are you doing here? Don't you know who he is?"

"Uh... who's this?" Rief asked, eyes wide and searching for more incoming projectiles.

Maddie blinked. "It's... uh, this is Frank, he's an old family friend. And yes! I know exactly who this is, he's an Adept, and a nice one at that! What are you doing here, how'd you know where he was?"

"Your brother came to me and said he'd heard a bunch of Adepts downstairs, so he snuck out and followed you. Then he-"

"He WHAT?" Maddie shouted angrily. "Oh, I'm gonna KILL that little-"

Frank furrowed his brow. "Be reasonable, Maddie! What are you thinking siding with these people? They're monsters! They're the reason Vault's gone! They're the reason your parents are gone! The adepts in that town killed everyone inside-"

"No they aren't, they didn't!" she cried. "They're heroes, all of them! Some of them saved the world 30 years ago! Some of them stopped the Grave Eclipse just recently! And THIS one-" she gestured to Rief, "-is the only reason that good-for-nothing brother of mine still has both his legs!"

Rief waved and smiled nervously.

That same fire as before entered Maddie's eyes as she stood stalwartly in front of the mob. She whistled loudly for attention.

"HEY! All of you! Listen up! I know why you're here, you're trying to hunt down some Adepts! Well, guess what? THEY DON'T DESERVE TO BE HUNTED DOWN! Lady McCoy's been spreading lies! It's true, some Adepts have done bad things, but some regular humans have, too! And these ones are heroes who've saved the world several times over!

"This one here? His name's Rief, and he's one of the nicest guys I know! I ran into him on the street, told him my brother was hurt, and he literally stopped everything he was doing to help, even knowing that the city's against his kind!"

Some shouts erupted from the crowd.

"They're murderers!"

"He trapped us in the marketplace just so he could get away!"

Maddie growled. "If he's a murderer, WHY DIDN'T HE KILL ANY OF YOU? I was there too! If he could make those massive walls of ice, why didn't he freeze everyone to death? You were trying to kill him as well! It would've been safer to just off everybody! But he didn't – he took the risk that he'd be recognized later because he DIDN'T WANT TO HURT YOU! What kind of a monster is THAT, huh?"

The crowd hushed imperceptibly for a moment, and the tone changed somewhat. Not completely, but there was some confusion. Some doubt.

"The REAL monster is Lady McCoy, up in that palace!" Maddie continued. "She's the one who's spent all this time turning you against Adepts that only want to help us! How many innocent people have died because of her? I'll tell you – VAULT, that's how many!"

Frank blinked in surprise. "Wh-what? Make some sense, girl! Why would Lady McCoy want to destroy Vault?"

"Because the people of Vault knew how helpful Adepts can be! Jenna of Vale herself helped to rebuild it after the Golden Sun event, and her parents were the ones living there! Everyone in town loved them and they did nothing but help! Lady McCoy couldn't stand the idea of people going against her will, so she declared EVERYONE an Adept sympathizer and had them all killed!"

Rief's jaw dropped in amazement. She was actually doing it. She was somehow, some way, convincing an angry mob that they were in the wrong.

"The real monster is Lady McCoy," she reiterated, "she's the one who started this stupid, useless war with Morgal, too! We've had innocent lives lost on both sides, and for what? Morgal wanted peace, and we gain nothing from their defeat! Queen Sveta herself is locked in our prison because she came to negotiate a surrender!"

"Sveta wanted to surrender?"

"My husband died in the war, why did he need to go?"

"She's lying! She's been corrupted by the Adepts!"

Maddie narrowed her eyes. "I've been corrupted by NO ONE! Every decision I've made has been my own, and I've learned that Adepts are human beings like you and me! They're capable of sympathy, of caring, of loving! And... and I love this one! I love Rief, and if you don't like it-"

"He's controlling her mind!"

"Death to the Adepts!"

A spear came hurtling out from the crowd, its trajectory much more firm than it had been.

Time seemed to slow as Rief watched the polearm flying toward him. How much time did he have? Would he be able to dodge? Should he try to block it, or knock it aside? It was close now, too close, but if it hit him at least he'd be able to-

He saw a green and brown blur tear toward him and barrel into him. He felt the air forced out of his lungs as he was sent clear to safety. He landed hard on the ground. Getting up, he checked himself quickly – no injuries.

He looked back to where he had stood a moment before.

"Oh, crap..." he said.

Maddie was on the ground, a spear in the right side of her chest.

She wasn't moving.

* * *

Mia pulled her arm back once more, and with it came a fleshy mass and a lot of gore. Some flecks of it splattered on her face, making her crazed grin seem even more psychopathic. She tossed the fleshy mass aside.

Sveta's hands reflexively went to the hole in her chest. Her eyes were wide in terror and confusion. She appeared to be gasping for air, but she made no sound.

Matthew dove to catch her as she collapsed. He looked into her eyes, already beginning to glaze over, and then turned his attention to Mia. With his teeth gritted and his eyes aflame, he raised a hand and a massive, glowing sword materialized next to him. It rocketed straight toward the older woman.

She stepped aside almost carelessly and it flew by, impacting the wall and sending sparks flying that made the others shield their eyes. Mia gave Matthew a stern look more like what you would give a spoiled child than a potentially hostile opponent.

"You traitor!" Matthew cried.

Mia rolled her eyes derisively and snapped her fingers. At the same time, she projected more psynergy outward than Matthew had ever seen before. He readied himself for pain or worse.

Instead, he heard Sveta inhale sharply and raggedly. She clutched her chest, but her skin was whole once more; there was a fist-sized tear in her shirt, but the only other evidence that she had been hurt was the fresh blood surrounding it. She coughed several times, by now a more-than-familiar sound, but it was much less wet than usual, probably more of a reaction to the sudden intake of air than anything else.

Matthew blinked in surprise.

"Mia, WHAT THE HELL?" Isaac shouted. "What's gotten into you? What are you talking about with the High Empyror? What could've possessed you to do... whatever you just did?"

"Umm, I saved her life?" Mia replied sarcastically. "She's breathing fine now. Just needed new lungs is all, and I couldn't give them to her while those old and disease-ridden ones were still inside. So I took them out. How are they working, ma'am? Treating you well?"

Sveta shuddered. "...Aaaaack..." she said. "It hurt..."

Mia blushed. "Oh! Right. The painkillers. Sorry, forgot about those."

"...You come down here, tear out an innocent girl's _lungs,_ simply 'forget' the painkilling magic you use literally every other time you heal someone, and when she's recovering from the pain of losing some of the most important organs in the human body, all you do is apologize?" Isaac shook his head. "That's not the Mia I know. Something's up, and the only reason I'm giving you a chance to explain yourself is because of our history. You have about a minute to clear things up before I change my mind. Go."

Felix shook himself out of Jenna's grip and folded his arms. "This is something I should probably start with, actually, considering that she won't admit it herself. The Empyror's manipulating her through her emotions. Every move she makes, she considers in terms of how it would make her look through his eyes. It's... my fault that it happened to her. I'm sorry. But I think it's just temporary."

"I think you're just being a dick, and you really need to learn who your friends are," Mia spat back. "The Empyror kept you at his right hand for twenty years-"

"The Empyror kept me on an EMOTIONAL LEASH for twenty years that I didn't even know was there until I saw what he did to you!" Felix roared back. "He made me commit heinous acts I would never have dreamt of doing, at first under the promise of help and medicine for Karst, and then simply because he made me ENJOY it! Sveta, I'm sorry for what I did to you earlier. I truly, truly am, but trust me when I say I'm here to make it up to you and to everyone else."

Mia's face took on an expression of murderous anger none in the group had ever seen before. "There IS no manipulation, Felix! Just His Highness, your stubborn betrayal, and everyone else's refusal to accept his rule! You can't judge him for yourself until you meet him in person. I say we all go there right now, to the city itself, and request an audience! If you're lucky, Felix, he might even forgive you for what you did!"

"Mia."

Everyone looked at Tyrell in surprise. He had spoken in a measured tone, not particularly loud, but clear as a bell, even over the shouting pair. His fists were clenched and his brow was furrowed.

He looked... _mature._

"What happened to the woman who took care of me during my family's darkest hour? I was looking forward to meeting with you again. I really was. You're like... you're like another mother to me, I guess." He blinked back tears. "Now you're all 'His Highness' this, and 'The Empyror' that. That man's a monster, Mia. He was responsible for countless deaths, and you're just gonna sit here and sing his praises? I won't believe it. You aren't Mia. You can't be. Mia's a nice person, she doesn't tear peoples' lungs out with her bare hands, she doesn't try to... to boss people around like you are!"

Mia put her hands on her hips. "Of course I'm still Mia. Come on, Tyrell, you're smarter than this. I'm just saying, give The Empyror a chance. I did, and I don't regret it-"

"That's because he brainwashed you-" Felix interjected.

"NO!" Tyrell shouted. "Mia knows who her friends are, and she would never abandon them. So it's time to make a choice. None of us are siding with the Empyror. If you're staying with him, then go. Get out of here. You aren't one of us anymore. Otherwise, let us help you. There's something wrong with you, and your friends are here for you, just as you always have been for us."

Mia stared into Tyrell's eyes. For a moment, something seemed to shine through-

And then it was gone. Her face was a mask of fury once more. "So there's nothing I can do to convince any of you, then?" she asked. "Fine. Forgive me for thinking our friendship had any weight. I'll just get out of here. Don't bother following me." And she started toward the prison exit.

Jenna followed her indecisively with her eyes, the hatred that she once held so pridefully replaced by puzzlement, and maybe even pity. She reached out a hand and grabbed Mia's arm as she passed. "Mia, wait-" she began.

Mia yanked her arm away and shoved Jenna into the wall hard enough to make a long crack in the stone. Jenna cried out and doubled over in pain.

In an instant, Isaac was back out in the hallway, sword drawn. With his off-hand, he grabbed Mia by the collar and lifted her into the air.

"Never. EVER. Do that again," he threatened. "Leave now, and don't come back. Next time we meet, if you haven't changed your mind, we're enemies. I won't hold back, past be damned."

He dropped her.

Mia scowled and started toward the exit once more.

* * *

Rief scrambled over to his fallen friend. His mind had snapped into focus and he let his training take over. He opened his mind to the flood of information.

_Heart's still beating, that's good. Brain activity normal. Blood loss nothing major, but the spear's in there pretty deep. It'll need to be removed for any healing to take place, and once that happens the bleeding is going to be much worse. The spear punctured the lung and damaged several muscles, so the remedy to that is-_

"R-Rief..." Maddie stammered. "I'm sorry..."

"Don't be," Rief said offhandedly. _Right lung is filling up with blood, that'll need to be drained too, but not until after the puncture is repaired-_

"I'm sorry that... I never had a chance to prove to you how I felt," she continued. "I mean... I know you didn't love me, you never did... I've made peace with that. But... maybe I could have taught you, won you over..."

"You don't say?" He threw out a simple pain numbing spell and then shook the spear lightly. _It's in there deep, and her chest muscles have clamped around it. It'll cause some damage coming back out-_

Maddie coughed up a splatter of blood. "You aren't listening... but I guess I should have expected that. You're a good person, Rief. Better than me. You deserve someone... more your level..."

_Aah, moving the spear got the blood flowing a little more freely. That's not good. Okay, need to deal with the internal bleeding first then-_

"But I cherish the time we had... even if it wasn't long." Maddie gave Rief a weak smile. "I could see us being together forever. I asked you to marry me, and that was stupid of me... but I would do it again. I really would. I... I love you, Rief, even if you don't feel the same way. It's probably better, all things considered... that you won't miss me..."

Rief blinked. "Wait, what?" he asked honestly. "What are you talking about?"

"I'm not gonna make it, Rief..." she replied sadly, but the smile never left her face. "At least I'll die knowing you're okay. The people won't hurt you, now... you can go free, and adventure some more, and... keep being a hero. But please... do one last thing..."

"Last thing? Alright, shoot," he said, just a little distracted.

"Kiss me, Rief. I want to know what it's like."

"Ahbuwha?"

Maddie stared deeply into her eyes, tears starting to form. "Even if you don't feel anything for me... I don't want to die without knowing... what it might have been like to be with you." She coughed again. "It's... getting cold... just, please..."

"But-"

"I'm begging you, as a friend..." she continued. "I'd be on my knees if I could. Just one kiss. That's all I need, and then... I can die in peace."

"You aren't-"

"Rief, please!"

"You-"

"PLEASE!"

Rief sighed. He looked at the blood turning her green dress to an angry red. He looked at her face, tearful and full of regret. He looked at the crowd, completely silent.

He rolled his eyes. "You know what?" he said, "I think we've both probably earned this."

He pulled her up toward him and they locked lips. He felt very, very awkward doing it... but when she lifted up her left arm and wrapped it around his back, he found it much easier to let go. He closed his eyes and went with the flow.

When they pulled apart again, Maddie looked deep into his eyes once more and smiled serenely.

"Thank you..." she said. "I just wish... we could have had more time together..."

Rief sighed and laughed. "Yeah, about that? I already took the spear out and healed the wound. You're fine. You can stop with the staggered speech, there's nothing making you do it."

Maddie blushed. "I... really? But I feel so cold and... and I can't really feel anything on that side of my body..."

"Painkillers," Rief said simply.

Maddie bit her lower lip.

"So... you knew I wasn't going to die, but you went ahead anyway and...?"

"Yup!" Rief said. "I felt kind of bad taking advantage of you, but you WERE begging for it, and you seemed to enjoy it anyway."

"I mean, like, you weren't granting me a last request. You just sort of did it. You could've interrupted me and told me I'd live, but..."

"Well, sorry if you feel like I cheated you out of-"

"No, no!" Maddie said hurriedly. "I mean, I'm flattered. I guess. I'm flattered that you'd rather kiss me than just tell me what a goof I'm being. It's... I-I mean, I'm not trying to read too much into it, but-"

"Oh, whatever," Rief replied dismissively. "You've probably just started a revolution anyway. I may as well stick around to make sure nobody gets hurt, and then I'll probably help with the rebuilding. So since I'll be staying in Bilibin for a bit anyway, maybe we should...?"

Maddie's face lit up. "Y-you've changed your mind about staying at my place, then?"

"Uh, no. I meant coffee or something," Rief said. He scratched his head. "I have a room at the inn, still. But, I dunno, just saying."

"Yeah," Maddie said. "Yeah, I'm okay with that. Sure."

They stared breathlessly into each other's eyes for several more seconds before Rief realized he was still cradling Maddie in his arms. He glanced at the crowd, still silent, and then back at Maddie. She blushed beet-red as he helped her to her feet.

A cheer went up from the crowd.

"The Adepts are here to help us!"

"They're human, just like we are!"

"Let's take that monster McCoy down!"

And as quickly as they had arrived, the crowd dispersed, charging toward the front gates of the palace.

Rief brushed some dirt off his robes. Maddie looked at the hole in her dress with disdain, but ultimately decided it wasn't an issue.

"So, uh... that was exhilarating," Rief offered.

"I should certainly say so!"

Rief and Maddie looked up in surprise. Karis came out from around the corner the crowd had just left by, followed shortly by Kraden.

"Look at you, Mr Hero!" she joked. "Saving the city, getting the girl, all at once. Glad you made good use of your time. Now, how about a prison break?"

Rief raised an eyebrow. He gestured to the wide hole behind him. "What, like that one?"

Karis and Kraden looked at each other. "Uh... huh?"

Neither side spoke for several seconds.

"So, who's she?" Karis finally asked.

Rief laughed. "Oh, sorry! Guys, this is Madeline. Uh, Maddie for short. Maddie, this is Karis, Ivan's daughter, and Kraden the Scholar. Uh, please don't freak out."

Maddie stood ramrod straight and extended an arm straight forward.

Karis shook it, followed by Kraden.

"I'm sorry and I'm doing my very best but oh my GOSH I'm so excited that I'm dizzy. Rief, catch me if I fall," she blurted.

There was an awkward silence.

"I-I mean, hi. It's nice to meet you." Maddie giggled nervously.

"See? You're getting better!" Rief said. "This is the most normal reaction you've had all night. I'm proud of you."

"You mean it? Aww, thanks!" She hugged Rief tightly.

Kraden cleared his throat. "Forgive me, but don't we have several time-sensitive matters to deal with?"

"Like what?" Rief began.

But before anyone could answer, Mia appeared from within the hole, her dark clothes dishevelled. She stormed away in the opposite direction from the four.

"It's been nice seeing you, Rief!" she said mirthlessly. "But now I gotta go again. Good luck, you two. Don't follow me."

"H-hey! What about Sveta?" Rief called.

Mia didn't stop walking. "She's fine! Check on her if you care. Just... whatever. I'm leaving. See you around."

She turned a corner and vanished.

Karis raised a hand hesitantly. "So... what was she doing here? When'd she arrive? Can you fill me in on a few of the details?"

Rief took one final glance in the direction Mia had gone, but decided to let her be. If something had happened, he'd be able to hear from the others later.

He led the group toward the benches he had sat in earlier and began to tell the story of what had happened since he escaped the palace.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_I admit I was really tempted to just end the chapter with Maddie still speared, but I didn't think it would fool anyone. When somebody's actually in serious danger, you'll know, trust me._

_This chapter has some longer sets of dialog than I'm used to, so I apologize if there's any issue with flow. As usual, tell me if you feel something's up, and I'll do my best to look into it. What do you think? Does the prison scene need work, or is it fine the way it is?_


	44. Fallout

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

The hallway was silent.

Most members of the group simply stared after Mia's footsteps in disbelief. Tyrell's expression was one of sincere heartbreak. Felix's was one of guilt. Isaac's was one of solemn determination.

Jenna, quietly picking herself up after Mia had shoved her so forcefully into the wall, held her face completely neutral; not because she was trying to hide her emotions, but because she could not decide how she felt.

On the one hand, she still hated Mia. It didn't matter what truly had happened four years before – it had only added insult to the injuries Mia had inflicted upon Jenna unknowingly, and the trial of separation would never have happened had the other woman never come by to visit. But Jenna couldn't help but feel pity for the broken healer. If what Felix had said was true, then Mia had just been rejected by her friends and threatened by her former lover for reasons she had no control over.

Jenna wanted to laugh. She wanted to gloat about Mia finally getting her just desserts. But even with all of the harsh words they had exchanged and all the unpleasantness between them... Mia was still a human being. No one deserved her fate.

So even in the aftermath of what she could have considered her ultimate victory over that husband-stealing hussy, Jenna held her sharp tongue. She just started toward the cell where her son and his girlfriend still sat. As she passed Isaac, she gave him a pat on the shoulder in acknowledgement.

He did not react. He did not even move. His stone-cold stare did not falter. His arm, slack at his side, still held the sword Excalibur as if he was expecting Mia to return with an army any moment. The shift in the air as Jenna passed by disturbed his longcoat, but beyond that, he remained still as a statue.

Jenna decided to give him his space, unnerved at his demeanor though she was.

Matthew cradled Sveta in his arms, though she no longer appeared to be in any sort of crisis. The dried blood on her face and hands, and the fresh blood on her chest, served as a reminder for what she had just experienced. But with her arms around his neck, her eyes closed and with a smile on her face, she seemed more at peace than she had for... well, for as long as Jenna had known her, which didn't say much. But the trouble was over; that much was certain.

Matthew looked up at his mother as she approached, the edges of his mouth turning very slightly upward. Jenna smiled back as warmly as she felt able. This wasn't an atmosphere that allowed for much in the way of mirth.

"How is she?" Jenna asked.

Sveta opened her eyes and looked up in response. "I am fine now," she said clearly. "Thank you for your concern."

Jenna extended a friendly hand toward the beastwoman. "I'm Jenna, I'm Matthew's mother. It's nice to finally meet you."

Sveta's eyebrows leaped as she hurriedly pulled herself to a standing position. With one hand holding the hole in the front of her dress shut, she took Jenna's hand with the other and shook it gracefully. "M-my apologies! Likewise, it is good to meet you as well. I am Queen Sveta of Morgal. I, umm, am also your son's girlfriend. Would that we could have met under, shall we say, simpler circumstances."

After the handshake, Sveta held out a hand and helped Matthew to his feet as well. Jenna hugged her son now that he was standing unburdened. Holding him at arms' length, she looked him over, top to bottom.

"Well, I guess you're old enough to be dating now," Jenna said with mock-seriousness.

Matthew gave an exaggerated shrug.

"Oh, come on! Don't give me that 'mute hero' routine again," Jenna said. "I heard you talking earlier, and I'm glad you've finally opened yourself up. Took me long enough to make your father do that, and then I had to deal with your silence for seventeen years. I mean, even if the implications are a little awkward."

"Implications?" Sveta asked. "He speaks more liberally now, yes. I asked him to do that several days ago." She blushed slightly. "Threatened, rather, I suppose. I told him that if he did not speak, I would simply read his mind to find what he wished to say."

Jenna's jaw dropped, just a little. "Read his mind? I thought only Ivan and Sheba could do that."

"It is a talent my clan possesses as well," Sveta said. She cringed a moment later. "...So that means at the moment, it is a talent possessed only by Ivan, Sheba and myself."

Jenna froze, embarrassed at her own lack of tact. Even as she began to apologize, Matthew put a comforting arm around Sveta's shoulders. She reached up with her hand and laced their fingers together before turning her head, face inches from his, and gazing deeply into his eyes. That was all the explanation Jenna needed; her son had been there for Sveta, just as Isaac had been there for Jenna after she lost her own family decades ago.

Sveta would probably not be so lucky as to find her parents and brother any time soon. But her expression said that she was okay with that – she had Matthew now, and he was all she needed. She gave him a quick peck on the lips. He gave her one in return. They paused, and gave each other sly smiles before edging closer and closer...

"...Do you two need a moment?" Jenna asked. "You both came close to dying multiple times, I understand if-"

"Oh, I am sorry!" Sveta said, red in the face as she pulled away from Matthew. "I did not think, I... I lost track of myself."

Jenna smiled sadly and waved away her worries. "It's okay. You deserve some time alone. I have other things to attend to anyway. Enjoy yourselves."

She turned and walked out of the cell. By this point, most of the others had begun talking amongst themselves. Tyrell, Garet and Ivan were discussing Mia's current situation, and Felix was standing nearby, listening in but not participating.

Isaac remained stock-still. Jenna grimaced.

"Uhm, Isaac? Hon? Are you alright? You haven't moved in a few minutes..."

Isaac blinked in surprise and turned toward her. "Sorry, did you say something?" he asked.

He finally sheathed his sword, but the tension was still there. He felt... distant. He refused to meet her gaze.

Jenna took his hand. He jumped a little at the contact, but her touch was gentle and comforting.

"How're you holding up?" she asked. "You've just been through a lot. Mia was friends with... most of us... but you two were closest. It couldn't have been good to see her-"

"No. It wasn't," Isaac interrupted. "It would've been if she was sane, but she's too far gone for her to be anything but an enemy at this point."

Jenna gulped. "An enemy? She helped save the world with us, are you sure labelling her an enemy isn't a little extreme?"

"No. It's accurate." Isaac shook off Jenna's grip. He rubbed both his temples. "The Mia I know was kind and logical. She never made harsh decisions, and she never did anything out of spite. The Mia you just saw was not the one I know. She's become a tool of the High Empyror. If we can't free her, we're never getting her back. We'll have to kill her. It's the only option."

He rested against the stone wall of the prison hallway and folded his arms. His body language said that he was relaxed, like he was trying to show that he had accepted their course of action. But it seemed forced. Jenna looked into his eyes, just for a split second before he looked away, and she saw a flash of immense pain in them.

"K-KILL her?" Jenna stammered. Her heart raced. "Isaac, you can't be serious. This is... this is your friend, right?"

Isaac shook his head. "I don't know. I'm not sure anymore. Do we really know if there's anything left of her in there, that _shell_ that looks like her?" He raised a hand to his mouth, covering it as if trying to stem the flow of words. But after a moment, he continued. "Jenna, let's look at this for a moment objectively. Yes, she's a close friend to most of us. But Felix said she's been brainwashed... to an extent, at least. What if we can't save her? What if she's gone for good? What if, worst of all, we TRY to bring her back and find out it's impossible? She's no longer on our side."

Jenna folded her arms pensively. "Mia... she..." she began, before trailing off. Jenna brushed a hair away from her face, but didn't continue speaking.

What was there to say? What SHOULD she say? Instinctively, Jenna knew that Isaac had to be wrong. Mia couldn't be gone for good. She was recoverable. Isaac was being silly, and he should be spending less time steeling himself to end her and more time thinking of how to avoid that possibility.

"Isaac..." Jenna started. "You know Mia and I weren't on the best of terms. But is killing her really necessary? I mean... maybe she's just going through a hard time now. A lot's happened to her over the past few years, and maybe this Tuaparang thing has just brought it to a head."

"We have to prepare for the worst, Jenna. Ignoring the fact that she's our friend, she has a lot of assets to offer the enemy. She's one of the three most powerful Mercury Adepts on the planet. She has intimate knowledge of several of the Warriors of Vale - sorry, poor choice of words, but you know what I mean - and she's well-connected enough that having her change sides could potentially mean that she brings others along with her. If we give up a chance to... for the lack of a better word, deny her to the enemy, just because we think she can be saved, what are the consequences if it turns out we're wrong? We can't risk it."

Isaac cracked his knuckles. "She's gone completely mad, Jenna. Off the deep-end. I have never known her EVER to do anything like what she did to you. It was so completely out-of-character for her that I wouldn't have even believed it was the same person." He narrowed his eyes. "I love you, Jenna, and Mia knows that. Even if, for some reason, she harbours some resentment that I ended up with you and not her – which she DOESN'T, by the way, and I know that for a fact – she would never have resorted to physical harm, especially not against someone so important to one of her friends."

"But... she healed Sveta, didn't she?"

"Yeah, and the real Mia would have done that too," Isaac replied, "but she would have done everything in her power to make it easier. She would've asked Ivan to put the girl to sleep or something. She would've operated, with real surgical tools, under controlled, sanitary conditions. And she certainly wouldn't have fucking 'forgotten' the painkillers. Just reaching in and... argh!"

Isaac slammed his fist into the wall. He was sweating profusely and his face was red from stress.

"Do you have any idea how easily that could have gone wrong?" he asked. "Mia could have missed. She could've gotten the girls heart or something. She could've killed the girl from shock. She might've made a mistake altogether and not been able to replace the lungs. She-"

Jenna threw her arms around Isaac and hugged him tightly. "Isaac, please," she said. "Everything's okay now. Sveta's fine, she and Matthew are... well, they're celebrating being alive. Mia saved the day, to be honest. That son of ours and his girlfriend, they seem pretty serious, and if he had lost her-"

"That's not the point!" Isaac shouted suddenly. "The point is, Mia should've known better. She should've done more to make sure everything would turn out okay. The Mia we all know would've done that. But when she showed up today, she did everything wrong. She was reckless and amoral. And if we can't turn her back..."

He brought a hand up to his face and rubbed his eyes. He breathed deeply to calm himself, and then finally he returned Jenna's hug. He ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her on the neck. Jenna's heart pounded and her blood burned. She squeezed him tighter.

"You're worried," Jenna said. "You're not worried that you're going to lose her, you're worried that she's already gone. But she's not. Not really. It scares me to see you jumping to that conclusion, Isaac. How can you be so willing to kill someone who..." Jenna gulped. "...who was once so close to you? What if it had been me, huh? What if I had changed sides like Mia did?"

The silence weighed heavily on both of them when she finished speaking. Not that the area was particularly silent; Garet, Ivan, and Tyrell were having a similar discussion on their end. But between Isaac and Jenna, there was a lot to be said, and no one was saying it. It was a void no one wanted to fill.

"...That's not fair," Isaac finally said. "That's not a choice I want to make. Hell, I don't want to make THIS choice. But I'm the leader of the group, and that means it's my job to make the tough decisions. If Mia's not with us... well, I guess that makes her an enemy. She's not an enemy we can afford to have. So if it comes to that, we don't hesitate, we don't take risks. As much as it pains me to say so, it's her or it's us."

Tears came into Jenna's eyes. "No..." she sobbed into Isaac's shoulder. "No, I mean... I..."

She pushed herself away and wiped the tears away with both hands. What was she thinking? This was the perfect opportunity to get rid of Mia for good. The woman who ruined her marriage, her family and her life could finally get her just desserts. Why was Jenna defending her?

"It isn't fair to her!" Jenna cried. "I mean, I hate her, but... but you shouldn't! You aren't supposed to hate her too! Stop talking so casually about murdering her!" She clenched her fists in anger. "That's... I don't know, I... argh!"

She slapped her hands onto her face. Her mind was a hurricane of hatred, frustration, and... what was that? Pity? No, no, it couldn't be. Pity for the woman whom Jenna saw to be the worst person in the entire world? Absurd. It had to be something else. Jenna was just upset that Isaac was willing to go so far with it, that was all. Jenna was putting herself in Mia's shoes. What if it had been her? What if all of Jenna's friends had turned their backs on her, had started conspiring to kill her if she didn't change her ways? And... wasn't Mia's son just outside? That wasn't something any child should be exposed to.

Jenna was glad, at least, that she had some good reasons to feel the way she did. Having any pity for Mia would go completely against her nature.

She folded her arms in a huff. "It just doesn't feel right. She... she represents everything bad that's happened in my life over the past few years. But that doesn't change the fact that she's a real person, and beyond that, she was someone close to you! Closer even than I was, for a while. To hear you so calmly discussing ending her life... I don't know what to say."

"Jenna..."

She felt Isaac stroking her back, and it just made her weep harder. She couldn't imagine what this must be like for him. It was hard enough for her, seeing someone so thoroughly corrupted, because she had to admit, she saw the same thing he had. Part of the reason she hated Mia was that Mia had always been a strong contender. Jenna respected Mia's strengths as a human being. When Jenna had heard that Mia was Isaac's ex, she hadn't just been jealous.

She had been afraid.

Back before the Golden Sun, Isaac had always been there for Jenna. When the Boulder fell and she lost everything, he gave her all the support she needed. She grew up with a massive crush on him, and when she was kidnapped, the first she heard of him after that was that he was pursuing her. She was the damsel in distress, he was her knight in shining armor. When they finally got married, it hadn't been luck; it had been fate. They belonged to each other, and that was that.

When Jenna heard that Isaac had been with Mia not once, but TWICE before he had married, Jenna's illusion had been shattered, partly because she could see the appeal. It was the first time she had imagined Isaac with anyone other than herself, and the image didn't seem so outrageous. Her fairytale romance was gone and replaced by what she saw as nothing more than good fortune on her part.

After all, Mia had insinuated, during that fateful conversation, that the first word she had ever heard Isaac say was her own name, shouted in ecstasy. She was the one who opened him up to the world. She was the first woman he had ever been with. If Mia and Isaac hadn't broken up, Jenna would have been left out in the cold, all her efforts for naught.

At that memory, Jenna felt the anger welling up within herself again.

"Isaac... if you were indoctrinated like Mia is, I wouldn't kill you," Jenna said. Her heart ached at the very thought. "I would do everything I could to free you, but I wouldn't kill you. I know it's not the same with you and Mia, but... just don't put it as first priority, okay? I know she's still important to you. I'll help you find a way to bring her back to normal, and then we'll figure out where to go from there. But you can't make her suffer for something that isn't her fault."

"I-"

"I don't know, I should wish all sorts of misfortune on Mia. I kind of do, I guess. But not this. Don't kill her. Let's not even discuss it."

"But-"

"I want you to be happy more than anything, Isaac. Right now, as far as you're concerned, your friend Mia is dead. For your sake, I want to help you prove you're wrong. She deserves better than that, doesn't she? I've said some pretty terrible things about her in the past. I have every reason to hate her. But you like her, and I know that if you do end her life without exhausting every option to bring her back to our side, you'll regret it for eternity. I'd... I'd rather see both of you happy than just have a broken Isaac to myself."

Isaac smiled sadly.

He took her into his arms again.

"Jenna, you'll have me to yourself either way," he said. "It's times like this that remind me why I married you in the first place. Thank you for this. You're right, I do want Mia alive and well. I'd rather we found some way to save her from whatever's happened. But no matter how things turn out, Jenna, I'm staying with you to the end. There's a reason I married you and not her, you know."

"Oh, really?" Jenna asked. "And what would that be?"

Isaac paused. He stroked his beard in thought.

"Blue hair," he finally said. "Not my thing. Kind of weird."

Jenna laughed and gave him a weak punch. "Yeah, yeah. Don't make me change my mind, mister. Anyway, we can do this. You know we can. We're the Warriors of Vale. When was the last time we screwed up at something? Other than our marriage, I guess. If anyone can save Mia, it's us. So let's get to work, shall we?"

She took his hand and led him back to the rest of the group, feeling strangely vindicated.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Trying to fix the dialog/description ratio as I go. Sorry the chapter's a little short, but this is a situation where I needed to have a lot of dialog to resolve a conflict and develop character, and I spent a LOT of time trying to keep it descriptive at the same time._

_Also I'm going to rely less on mortal injuries as drama generators from now on. Sveta's been sick for like 30 chapters, it's time to move on from that._

_FINALLY, I want to mention that demonsshade has posted the first chapter (or the prologue, rather) of Fallen, his sequel to the excellent Risen. If you still haven't read Risen, go do that right now, the guy's an absolute master of atmosphere. Then go check out Fallen._


	45. Proper Motivation

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"So what's the verdict?" Ivan asked as Jenna and Isaac approached. "I couldn't help but overhear a little."

"Well, we-"

Felix interrupted by clearing his throat loudly. When all eyes turned to him, he gestured in the direction of the cell Matthew and Sveta were still sharing. It was difficult to tell what was going on in the dark, especially with the iron bars in the way, but it did seem like Matthew was examining the scar on her chest awfully closely-

"Oh," Jenna said, blushing. "Right. We should probably... uh, let's go somewhere else to talk about this."

They all silently began to move down the hallway of the prison, not stopping until they turned a corner and put a solid wall between the six of them and the two paramours. Tyrell snickered in spite of himself, at which point Garet gave him a swift cuff on the back of the head. The noise did a good job of covering Garet's own immature giggle. Felix rolled his eyes and rested against the wall without a word.

Ivan cleared his throat. "So. Mia. What are we going to do about her?"

Jenna and Isaac gave each other weak smiles. "We're going to give her the benefit of the doubt," Isaac said, "and trust that there's some way to turn her back. It's risky, but-"

"But it's worth it. For her, I mean," Tyrell interjected. "We've... I mean, you guys have got too much history with her to just cut her loose. I was just as shocked as you were to see her do and say what she did, but that's not her. We just need to FIND her. The her-her, I mean. The her who is actually-"

"Yup," Garet said, silencing his son's rambling. "We get it."

Ivan raised a hand cautiously. "But how do we do it? I mean, I'm all for saving her. She was literally the third friend I ever had. And I know where there's a will, there's a way, especially for a group like us. But we need to make a plan first. Any hints as to what we could actually do for her?"

"If you think of something, I'd really, really love to hear."

All eyes turned once more toward Felix, who had been mostly silent up until this moment. Ivan in particular only noticed his expression for the first time right then; Felix had never been a talkative man, but his usual taciturn air was now overlaid with deep, intense concentration, as well as a hint of frustration and impatience. His eyes were closed, his brow furrowed, and his lips tightly pursed. His hands were squeezed tightly enough to make the leather in his gloves squeak every so often, and his stance, normally relaxed, was visibly tense. He made no unnecessary movements, and even the simple act of talking seemed to drain him somewhat.

"I have a simple solution," he continued. "Willpower. That's all I know. You have no idea how the Empyror works, and I haven't had the chance to explain properly. I'm sorry if I seem a little short-tempered, but you'll understand by the time I'm done."

Ivan idly wondered what was truly running through Felix's head. Without thinking, he reached out with his mind and tried to catch a glimpse for himself-

_bzzzt_

"Aah!" Ivan hissed, clutching his head. "What was that?"

Felix raised an eyebrow. After a split-second's thought, he glanced at the sword strapped to his back.

"Yeah, don't try reading my mind. It's really not a good idea," he said. "This thing was a 'gift' from _him._ It drains and disables any psynergy-based effects in the area. It took a lot of getting used to, as well, because the draining effect has the interesting bonus of exhausting any Adept it touches as well. It's something you can adapt to, but I can't use any psynergy at all while I'm wearing or holding it, and – oh – Mia told me on the way here that it's probably killing me slowly. So I'm throwing it away when we're done here."

Jenna gasped. "Killing you?" she whispered. "Felix, why the hell would you ever use it, then? Why are you STILL using it?"

"Like I said," he replied, "you have no idea how the Empyror works. He's a Mars adept, and a talented one at that. He worked out some emotional control technique early on that's so effective that... well, I didn't even know he was doing it until it was too late. He makes you feel pride at doing things that please him, makes you feel guilty for failing him, that sort of thing. The worst part is, it's habit-forming. As I told you earlier, he makes you think in terms of what he wants, and if you don't notice it, you can't combat it."

Isaac's eyes widened in understanding. "So THAT's where you've been all this time," he said. "He found you, sunk his claws into you, and you've been his ever since."

Felix nodded jerkily. "Right, right. I've done things I regret and will always regret and I'd really like to stay on topic, if that's okay. I have Mia to thank for freeing me, in truth. I wouldn't accept what had happened to me until I saw it happen to her. See, I'm pretty sure Mia's elemental affinity meant that the indoctrination hit her harder than it would most. What took twenty years for me happened to her in the space of a minute. Frankly, her psyche's probably not handling it very well. Hell, I..."

He trailed off. He matched eyes with the others, one by one. He blinked hard, twice.

"Sorry," he said. "It's... it's like, you know how sometimes you have some routine, some ritual you undergo without even thinking of it? You go through the motions but sometimes you don't even realize it's going on until you're in the middle? It's exactly like that. I have to consciously focus to keep my mind on track, and that's why I want to get this done as soon as possible. He's done a lot to piss me off and that's keeping me going, but I'm working against myself already, rationalizing everything away as a good idea, or part of some master plan I should just trust in..."

He pushed off the wall and started pacing anxiously. He cracked his knuckles, fiddled with his gloves, adjusted his clothing... one distracting habit after another.

"Okay, here's the deal. I came here in an airship. Karst is in that airship, probably asleep. She still can't move her legs, so she isn't going anywhere regardless. The last of the Tuaparang generals is here, in this building, and we need to take her down-"

"Her?" Tyrell asked.

"Lady McCoy," Isaac helpfully pitched in. "She calls herself Cudgel or something. Rief told us."

"Caudgel, yes," Felix corrected. "She leads The Empyror's efforts to subvert the mainland. He plans to invade eventually, and she's been doing her damnedest to weaken the standing nations of Angara for years now behind the scenes."

Tyrell growled. "Not so behind-the-scenes anymore. She declared war on Belinsk. Sveta was trying to negotiate peace, but we all know how that turned out."

"War? Grr... of course." Felix put a hand to his chin. "I heard about the Grave Eclipse. If it was a Tuaparang project – one that I had no part in, mind you – then it stands to reason that Caudgel knew it was coming. She probably took steps to ensure Bilibin would be protected, and now she plans to wipe out Belinsk wholesale. That shouldn't be hard to stop once she's gone, though. Lord McCoy is a peaceful man, and a war so soon after a catastrophe like the Eclipse can't be popular at all."

"Two birds with one stone!" Tyrell shouted. "I love it. When do we go?"

Garet stared pointedly at his son. " 'We' aren't going anywhere! You're staying behind. I'm not taking the risk that you'll get hurt again. We've got five of the Warriors of Vale here, we should be more than capable of taking out one corrupt dictator."

"But-"

"You should probably explain Mia's situation to Rief, anyway. He's waiting outside."

Tyrell threw his hands into the air. "This is so stupid! Why can't I come? You KNOW I'm good enough to help you guys! Hell, I took out Blados pretty much on my own!"

Felix raised an eyebrow. "You took out Blados? That's... that's actually pretty impressive."

Tyrell grinned and scratched his head shyly. "Yeah, well... I had Rief backing me up. Healing me, mostly. It's hard for a guy to beat you with just a sword when your cuts close up instantly."

Garet nodded. "I bet you had a weapon then, too."

"...Well, duh," Tyrell said with a shrug. "Why wouldn't I have?"

"My point is, you don't have one now. It's a moot point. You've got no weapon, and I'm not putting you at risk anyway. Go help Rief."

Tyrell opened his mouth to argue, but Garet pointed angrily in the direction they came. Tyrell sighed loudly and marched toward the exit with a pout weighing down his expression.

When he turned the corner, Garet shrugged. "I just feel better with him out of danger, I guess," he said. "I'm sure you understand. Anything else we need to know, Felix?"

Felix nodded. "Caudgel's got a silver tongue. She'll probably try to talk her way out of it. Don't listen to her, just keep your mind on the objective. She's a handful in combat, but like you said, it's nothing the five of us can't handle." He gestured further down the hall. "The throne room's probably this way, if I remember the layout correctly. If there are no other objections, I'd like to go sooner rather than later."

Jenna hesitated for but a moment. She walked up to her brother and put her hand on his arm.

"I... well, this probably isn't the best time, but..."

"But what?" Felix asked.

Jenna sighed. "I guess you probably need to know this anyway. You said you needed reasons to stay mad at the Tuaparang, right? So you could stay focused? Well, I... that is, she..."

"Spit it out, Jenna. We're running low on-"

"Our parents. They're dead. Probably part of that 'undermining the mainland' thing you were talking about. I only just found out, Felix."

Felix stopped fidgeting all at once. His hands froze in place.

He let them fall to his sides.

He took several deep breaths.

"I shouldn't be surprised," he said. "I really, really shouldn't. Thanks for telling me, Jenna. It was... a timely motivator, I suppose."

He drew his sword. "No time like the present to get vengeance against those responsible, though, right?"

He immediately set off down the hallway. The other four hurried after him.

* * *

After his mother left, Matthew stared awkwardly at Sveta. While he had to admit that there HAD been a bit of a mood going, the whole "Your mom just told you to get busy" aspect sort of ruined it for him. He could tell that Sveta was unsure as well; she stood even straighter than normal and kept fussing with her hair.

"Sorry about that," Matthew apologized.

"No! I am fine," Sveta stammered. "I am glad to have met her. Honestly, she is not as intimidating as I was worried she would be."

Matthew laughed and cocked his head questioningly.

"W-well... you know, what with the evil mother-in-law stereotype," Sveta mumbled. "N-not that she is my mother-in-law yet! Or, uh, not that she will be. Ever. Necessarily."

Matthew felt a shiver down his spine. "Uhm, right. One step at a time."

He took her hand and squeezed it gently. The feeling had already become familiar, comforting; just that simple squeeze seemed to make his anxiety melt away. He was _so_ glad she was still alive, and it scared him to know how close she had come to being gone forever.

"How's your chest?" he asked, hoping to change the subject.

Sveta's ears perked up. She reached up with both hands and gently grasped the tattered edges of the hole in her shirt. She pulled them apart carefully to expose the location of the impromptu surgery, but held the shirt flat to her chest to avoid showing more than was necessary.

Beneath the light fur, Matthew could see a hint of a scar, barely a blemish on her skin. It was incredible how just minutes before there had been a bloody gash, and now he could only see the spot because he knew exactly where it was. He traced the thin line – for that was all that was visible – with his finger. Just like that, all of the problems of the past few days had vanished, and she stood before him, healthy as he had ever seen her.

He glanced up at her face. She was biting her lower lip and her cheeks were flushed. Her ears were just starting to flatten to the sides of her head.

Only then did he realize exactly where his hand was. He pulled it away quickly and apologized under his breath.

"It is nothing to worry about," Sveta breathed, obviously trying to appear more calm than she actually was. "We are close, are we not? We have not been together long, but these past months must count for something. We did share a bed just last night, after all."

"Yeah, please don't tell my parents about that," Matthew said quickly.

Even so, he glanced around, and when he was sure no one was watching, he pulled Sveta into a tight embrace and kissed her. She returned it, but seemed to be holding back.

Before long, she pulled away. She looked at him nervously, almost fearfully. What was wrong? Was it something he had said or done? She bit her lower lip and glanced around the area. Matthew followed her gaze; the others had all left, though whether to discuss matters elsewhere or simply to give the two privacy he could not say.

When she was satisfied that they were alone, she looked back at Matthew. She seemed to hesitate for a moment, as if deciding whether or not to speak. But after several seconds, she locked eyes with him, leaned in, and whispered urgently.

"Matthew... where are you and I? In our relationship, I mean."

He tilted his head at the question. He hadn't been expecting that.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

He took her hand and led her over to the cell's single stone wall. As they sat against it, Sveta was visibly cautious of the shackles she had only recently been strapped into – Matthew pulled them away and held them on his opposite side when he noticed. He unconsciously looked at her wrists, still raw after her imprisonment, but obviously not bleeding after Mia's treatment. Sveta had been through a lot recently, and he wanted to make everything as easy for her as possible.

With that in mind, he let her speak first.

"Well..." she began, "as I just said, we have not been together very long. Do you feel we are moving rather quickly? N-not that I object! Not if you do not. I just..." She sighed loudly and put her head in her hands. "I do not know."

She curled up in a tight ball, her arms around her knees. The expression on her face filled Matthew with a unique mix of pity and adoration – he knew she needed comfort, but he knew he was the one who could provide it. He started to put his arm around her, but pulled back. Was she feeling smothered? If that was the case, he shouldn't try to be too pushy with her. But he wanted to make sure she felt safe and secure, and she had said that she didn't object to moving quickly...

He decided the best way to respond was to be truthful, yet non-committal.

"I think that our case is an unusual one," he said, "and that's why it feels like we're going so fast. We were the best of friends before deciding we wanted to be more, for one. But then you were put in several life-threatening situations in a row. I guess that can do things to a relationship, potentially."

He watched her face for a reaction, hoping he had made the right decision. Right then, he wished he had her mind-reading talent – he'd have given anything to know what she was thinking. The best he could do was try to read her body language, and she seemed dissatisfied with what he said, though not altogether put out.

She moved her hands up to the tops of her knees. She smoothed out the folds of her dress as she did so – it was a sad remnant of the grand royal gown it had been just that morning. It had scorch marks from the electrocution; it had dirt and grime from the prison; it had several other dark blemishes from blood and sweat. It hardly looked like the dress a queen would wear. Even so, there was still somewhat of a regal air about it; even tattered and ruined as it was, no one would ever mistake it for a commoner's wear.

"But where would you like us to be?" she asked. "I know why things are the way they are, but... I do not know. It does not feel stable. It could just be what I have heard of how relationships are supposed to work, but..."

Matthew sighed. "Does it really matter to you how relationships are 'supposed' to work, though? Is that really a fair meter to measure us against? There are so many things atypical about what we have going that I don't feel like we can really say that. We saved the world together, and we've been through so much since then. Beyond that... you're royalty, and I'm a commoner."

"And you are human," Sveta said flatly, "and I am a beastwoman."

"That's not what I was talking about," Matthew said sincerely.

But Sveta shook her head. "It still matters. You were right, of course, that our situation is not typical. There are many who might object, and who is to say that our relationship is not doomed from the start anyway? Are our species even... I mean, could we... could we have children?"

Matthew decided to throw caution to the wind. He put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close – as he watched her face, he was rewarded with a slight upturn of the edges of her mouth. She turned her head to look up at him and he saw a glimmer of hope in her eyes. He did his best to look as confident as he felt.

"Sveta, we aren't different species. Beastmen are still human. You were affected differently by the Golden Sun than others, but that doesn't change who you are, and it doesn't make you less than anybody else. If people object, it's because they aren't thinking straight. Our relationship is not between a human and a beastwoman. It's between two people, nothing more. Never forget that."

She smiled broadly, almost tearful with joy. She collapsed into his arms, embracing him awkwardly as they sat against the cold wall. She kissed his neck and nuzzled him gently. "I am so glad you think so," she said.

Matthew grinned. He opened his senses to make sure she wasn't using psynergy to read his mind, and then allowed himself a moment of pride for a job well done.

"But weren't you just talking about how we're going a little fast?" he asked. "I mean, you're thinking about, uh... children. That's a ways off, isn't it?"

Sveta froze. "Well, I-"

"Not to make you feel bad, or anything!" Matthew hurriedly clarified. "I just-"

"No, it is alright." Sveta kissed his neck again. "It is fine. When I asked about our relationship, I was not asking because I thought you were advancing too quickly – I was worried _I_ was advancing too quickly."

She ran a hand through his hair. He stiffened slightly; he wasn't really used to that sort of contact. He didn't stop her.

She spoke again. "Earlier tonight, there was a moment that I was absolutely certain I was about to die. I could see it coming. I felt it was inevitable. And even though we have been together for less than a week, my one regret was that I would never be able to grow old alongside you." She blushed and pulled back shyly. "Pathetic, is it not?"

Matthew's heart began to race. His hands shook, his mind flew, his blood was aflame in his veins. There is no feeling quite like knowing the person you love feels exactly the same way about you. And if he was honest with himself, he had the exact same worries she had voiced. He felt he might have been pushing it too far, that he might have been too desperate to deepen the relationship.

"It isn't pathetic at all!" he said, both for her sake and for his own. "I'm glad you feel that way. I'm thrilled. When I found you as you were, and my dad told me you might not make it, I didn't know what I would do. The idea of losing you was just unthinkable."

He was rambling, but he didn't care. His mouth ran as it wished. He just wanted to let it all out, to let her know how he felt. "You're the most important person in the world to me," he said. "You're the best thing about my life right now. I've never felt this way about anyone before, and the only reason I haven't already proposed is-"

Her head jerked upright suddenly. He stopped speaking when he realized what he had said.

Sveta's expression was anxious, but otherwise unreadable. "Pr... proposed?" she asked. "You mean...?"

Matthew blushed furiously. "Just ignore that, okay? Please? I didn't mean to let that out, I just... yeah, this is why I prefer being quiet. Less chance of making an idiot out of myself like I just did."

They sat in silence, in the dark of the cell. Matthew was too terrified to pay attention to his surroundings. Stupid, stupid! Yes, he had dreams of starting a family with her. Yes, he had briefly considered proposing. But... but how could he do that? It was too soon! It could all go wrong so easily! What he had almost said was, _the only reason I haven't already proposed is that we have only been together for a week._ So that made him somewhat of a hypocrite.

He heard a soft giggle next to him. Sveta squeezed him tighter. He shuddered in embarrassment – _yeah, laugh away_, he thought. _I deserve it._ He felt so ashamed that he couldn't even look at her.

She leaned in close and spoke into his ear.

"I am sorry, Matthew," she said. "You were not speaking, so I just had to read your mind a little."

His face burned. _Damn it all. Damn EVERYTHING._

She snuggled up against him and grinned smugly. "I should have done that in the first place, I suppose," she said. "I was mostly worried because I did not know how you felt. I know you prefer that I refrain from using Spirit Sense on you, but it DOES make things so much simpler, does it not?"

_damn damn damn damn DAMN DAMN DAMN_

"I suppose we are both hypocrites, after all," she teased. "Me with how I acted during my fever, you with the proposal thing... it is so much easier when everything is out in the open. You have calmed my worries, Matthew. Thank you for that. I still do not know where our relationship stands, but obviously, neither do you. So my question of how it would be appropriate to celebrate our continued survival, must go unanswered."

She wriggled out from his arms and slowly came to her feet. She practically skipped to the door to the cell before motioning to Matthew to follow.

"We should catch up with the others," she said. "They may be planning the next move. There is more going on than just us at this point, sad as I am to admit."

Matthew shambled after her, looking guilty and ashamed. He felt like he had ruined everything, and it just wasn't fair for her to keep teasing him like this-

She pulled him close forcefully as he approached. She kissed him firmly and passionately on the lips, holding nothing back this time. She giggled again.

"Do you see how much better things go when you speak your mind?" she asked. "After all, if you had just let yourself propose... I might have said yes."

She smiled coyly and ran off before he could react.


	46. Redirect

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"...S-so... Dad's here," Karis said breathlessly as Rief finished his exposition. Her heart pounded relentlessly against her ribcage. She did her best to hide her anxiety, but it was all she could do to keep from hyperventilating. "And he's probably already met Sveta, and seen what condition she's in... and maybe read her mind a little."

Kraden looked uneasy. Karis knew he was probably thinking the same thing that she was – that without both sides of the story, Ivan would easily jump to conclusions. Sveta had been doing her best to get away and hide; if one were to read her mind, it would almost certainly look like Karis had caused all of Sveta's problems intentionally.

Kraden forced a smile. "I'm sure that if something had come up, Mia would have mentioned it," he said. "She, ah... did seem to be in a bit of a mood, though. Rief, are you sure you aren't concerned about that?"

Rief smiled and shook his head. Maddie, by his side, seemed to be in a similar state of confidence. She had remained happily silent throughout Rief's tale, stopping every so often to give him the sappiest grin Karis had ever seen. The two of them standing there, grinning, were the very picture of blissful ignorance.

"Rief, I don't mean to worry you, but..." Karis bit her lower lip. "Well, I guess I find it odd that your mom shows up, dressed all in black, beside the former general of what can only be referred to as 'the bad guys.' She then goes down and meets the rest of our parents, and comes storming out a few minutes later refusing to talk."

"Well, the black's easy to explain," Rief said. "She was in Tuaparang overnight, and she didn't bring a change of clothes. And Felix is a good guy now, remember?"

"We only have your word to go by on that, by the way," Karis replied.

Rief raised a hand in protest. "If he wasn't, he would have done something by now. Mom said that Sveta was fine, right? If Felix had gone bonkers then she would've mentioned something."

"Mia wouldn't lie, right?" Maddie said with confidence. "Especially not to her own son."

With a smug smile, Rief continued. "If you want to see for yourself, I invite you to head down and ask him. He's with the rest of the group. Hell, I'd bet money that my Mom played a major part in turning him back to our side. She's good at the whole 'heroics' thing."

"Explain her mood, then!" Karis cried. "She definitely stormed off. Argue what you like, but there was _objectively_ a lot of storming going on. She didn't even stop to talk for more than 5 seconds. What's up with that?"

Kraden put a hand on Karis's shoulder to caution her. It smothered her anger like a fire blanket; she hadn't even noticed how worked up she had gotten, but Rief could be SO difficult to deal with sometimes.

The boy just shook his head. "I dunno. I'm sure there's a good reason. Mom's fine, she can handle herself. She'll show up again when she's ready."

"What, you aren't even going to look for her?" Karis asked.

"Nah. Like I said, she'll come back on her own." For Rief, it was like he was saying the sky was blue. It was a simple, immutable statement of fact.

Karis almost believed him.

Before she could continue, she heard a noise – a series of noises, rather – coming from the hole. There was some scrambling, a few falling stones, and more than a couple of muttered curses.

She walked over and looked down into the darkness.

"...Hello?" she called out.

The person below snapped their fingers and a small flame appeared, lighting up the night. A familiar idiotic grin shined up at her in the dark.

"Hey, Karis!" Tyrell said. "You made it out okay, I see. Feel like helping me up here?"

Karis allowed herself a hint of a smile. At the very least, Tyrell wasn't openly hostile – that meant that whatever had happened, whatever had been revealed down below, it hadn't influenced his opinion of her.

"Why do YOU suddenly need help?" she asked. "Everyone else has made it up fine on their own. Mia came through like, 5 or 10 minutes ago."

Tyrell rolled his eyes. "It's kind of hard now. It looks like she kind of iced over the exit out of spite. Do you have a rope?"

Iced over the exit? "No rope, no, but you know what's really great about ice?" Karis asked sarcastically. "You can _melt it._"

Tyrell stared blankly for a moment before he let the light in his hands go out. Karis stood back several feet.

She had a split second of warning from the pulse of psynergy she sensed before a column of flame erupted from the hole.

The group on the surface all shielded their eyes from the flare, but Karis still saw stars when it finally went out. The sounds started up again – some scrambling, some loose stones, some muttered cursing – before Tyrell's head finally appeared aboveground. He quickly pulled himself out and fell flat on his back.

"Aaaahhhhh!" he hissed. "My fingers are all burnt now. That was way too hot."

"Serves you right for overdoing it, you goof," Karis said before offering him a hand to stand back up.

"Oh hey, it's Kraden!" Tyrell shouted when he finally got his bearings. "I'm glad you got free. And hi, Rief, and..." He stopped when he saw Maddie. "I don't think we've been introduced."

Rief cleared his throat. "Tyrell, this is Maddie. Maddie's my, uh, friend. My new friend. I met her today."

Maddie walked forward and shook his hand. "What he means is that I'm his girlfriend. We aren't dating yet because there's nowhere to go this late, but we made out a little anyway. Which one are you related to?"

Tyrell blinked.

Rief's palm impacted his face loudly enough that Karis wondered how he had managed to avoid hurting himself.

"I, umm, think she's asking which Warrior of Vale you're related to, Tyrell," Kraden put in helpfully. "She's a bit of a fan, to say the least, and she's trying her best to cope with everything. She hadn't even seen psynergy before yesterday, and I think she's dealing with all of the excitement admirably."

"Thanks, Mr Kraden!" Maddie beamed.

Tyrell blinked again. "I, uh... well, my dad's Garet. That's who I'm related to. The blank stare was more because you said you two made ou-"

"Garet?" Maddie interrupted. "Oh, right. The comic relief one. I can see the resemblance, actually. Nice to meet you."

She turned and walked back to Rief's side, leaving Tyrell speechless.

"So, what happened down there?" Karis asked. "It's been a while since we heard anything, and Mia just kind of walked right by."

She couldn't see all that clearly in the dark, but Karis could have sworn that she saw a twinge of pain in Tyrell's face against the moonlight. It must have been from his burnt fingers.

"Mia," he said. "Uh, right. I'll get to that. So what happened... uh, all our parents showed up, Matthew had a tearful goodbye with Sveta, but then she ended up not dying, so the rest of us wandered off while they got 'reacquainted,' and then Felix told us we were going to go fight Lady McCoy, but my dad sent me away because I didn't have a weapon."

"Weapons! Right, here you go." Karis unbuckled Tyrell's axe from her back, having nonchalantly carried it, along with Matthew's Sol Blade and her own rapier, out of the palace. "You'd better take the sword too, since you're stronger. My back was starting to hurt a little."

Tyrell laughed. "You found all of these and just carried them out?"

"Yup."

"Nobody even commented?"

"Nope."

Tyrell hefted his axe, but managed to resist giving it any practice swings. He buckled it to his belt. "Guess it's too late to head back down..." he said. "I'm sure they'll be fine on their own, though."

"Will they be okay without Mia, though?" Karis asked pointedly.

Tyrell hesitated, sparing a glance toward Rief, before replying.

"...I don't think there's much chance that she'll be going with them now," he said. "She, uh... kind of started some stuff when she was down below. Harsh words were said, bridges were burned, and she kind of aligned herself with the Tuaparang. I'm not sure if you've heard."

All eyes turned to the young Mercury Adept in the group.

There was a cold silence.

And then it was punctuated by a quiet snicker.

"Very funny, Tyrell," Rief said earnestly. He removed his glasses and cleaned them with the hem of his robe, completely relaxed. "So what _really_ happened down there?"

* * *

Sveta stopped when she rounded the corner, and Matthew almost bumped into her.

"I am sorry," she said, "but I have no idea where we are going."

She looked all around. She had expected to see someone by this point.

"Where'd everybody go?" Matthew said, echoing her concerns. "It seems weird that they'd just leave us..."

Sveta reached within herself and let her psynergy enhance her senses. She sniffed the air in several directions. Down this path, it was musky, the smell of damp stone... nobody had been down there for some time. In the other direction, there was a whole cornucopia of scents. It was a well-travelled passage. But something caught her attention – a smell of body odor, mixed with pine and sawdust...

"Tyrell has been this way," she announced. "He must have passed us at some point. How did we not notice him?"

Matthew adjusted his scarf, blushing slightly. "Honestly? There were any number of times when we were, uh, otherwise distracted that he might have just gone right by. If he was listening, I can even understand why he wouldn't want to get involved."

With a blush that followed suit, Sveta nodded. "Right. Well... I think I know the way the others went. We should follow if we wish to join them."

She started down toward the main hallway, and Matthew marched alongside her.

His expression was pensive.

"Do we really want to go with them, though?" he asked. "I mean, it's five of the Warriors of Vale against... whatever. It doesn't matter. They'll win."

Sveta tilted her head to the side. "But what else shall we do? We are here, we may as well help." She paused.

With a sidelong stare, she pushed as much sarcasm as she was capable of into her voice. "You are not feeling amorous again, are you? Forgive me, but I do not generally get that feeling from prison cells."

Matthew laughed. "No, but don't you see? We're in Bilibin. The PALACE of Bilibin."

He grinned. "I wonder where they keep the military reports? I, for one, am just DYING to read them."

* * *

"No, really though," Rief continued. "What happened? Because it sounded like you said she switched sides. Mia of Imil wouldn't defect. She just doesn't do that."

Tyrell clenched his fists. "Except that yeah, she did. She explicitly said so. She tried to get everyone else to join in, too, but Felix of all people convinced them otherwise."

"Horseshit." Rief ignored the surprised stares he received at that bit of language, and carried on. "You said Sveta was doing fine. If Mom hadn't helped her, that wouldn't be the case."

"Alright, you wanna know what happened? Fine," Tyrell growled. He walked up to Rief until they were toe-to-toe. Rief stared indignantly up at him, and all things considered, the younger adept cut a pretty impressive figure considering that he only came up to Tyrell's chin.

"When Mia showed up, we were all happy to see her. Even Jenna seemed sort of okay with it. See, Sveta was nearly dead. She was bleeding all over – something about psynergy draining, I wasn't really paying attention – and then Mia shows up and fixes it. She focused her mind for a nanosecond and Sveta was cured. Except she wasn't, because her lungs were ruined, and she was going to die anyway. So do you know what she says? _She says Sveta needs her lungs replaced._

So – and I'm not making this up – she shouts some praise to the High Empyror and sticks her hand right into Sveta's chest, she rips out the girl's lungs, and then heals her some more before saying something innocent like, 'Oops, forgot the painkillers!' And then she-"

"Forgot the painkillers? Oh, gimme a break!" Rief gave Tyrell a quick shove. "I don't know what you're trying to get at, but Mia doesn't 'forget' anything. She's a professional, and she's been bringing people back from the brink of death since before you were born. I don't know why you're trying to turn me against her-"

"_I'm not trying to turn you against her!_ I'm trying to tell you the truth, so maybe you'll snap the hell out of it and show some concern for your freaking MOTHER!"

"I'm as concerned as I need to be-"

"Rief, Felix told us how it works. The Empyror has this weird mind control thing he uses to make people think the way he wants. Felix himself only got free because he saw how drastically different Mia was acting. Like, when everyone called her out on nearly killing Sveta with her on-the-fly surgery, you know what she did? She shoved Jenna out of the way on her way out. Isaac damn near flipped out, and it was Jenna of all people who managed to convince him _not to go after your mother and murder her._" Tyrell folded his arms. "So there you go."

Rief stood his ground. He stared up directly at Tyrell's face, not batting an eye.

"Prove it," he said.

Tyrell glanced at Karis. "You told me Mia had been through," he said. "How was she acting? What'd she say?"

Karis looked away in shame. "She... she said she didn't want to talk about it. She said Sveta was fine, and then just walked away angrily. I dunno, Rief, it sounds like he might have a point-"

"She walked away and you just _let her go?_ Geez, Rief, it's like you don't even care!"

Rief shoved Tyrell a second time. "Don't you ever say that to me!"

Tyrell shoved back, knocking Rief on his behind. "Get this into your head, pipsqueak! Mia isn't fine. She's not even OKAY. She's been through some serious stuff and she didn't come out on top. I don't know how it is for you, considering that you haven't even seen her since you left with Kraden, but when MY mom died and my dad couldn't take care of me, Mia was all I had. I'd do damn near anything to bring her back on our side, and what are you doing? You're pretending nothing's going on! She stomps out here, visibly distressed, and you don't even offer a word of consolation? What the hell kind of a son are you?"

Karis gasped. "Tyrell, watch your-"

"No."

Rief spoke quietly, his face hidden.

He picked himself up off the ground.

He turned away from the group, taking care not to look at anyone's face.

"It doesn't matter. I'm gonna go. You can just talk away, for all I care. I refuse to listen to this."

And he started away. He didn't even leave with any direction in mind; he just picked a street and followed it.

Maddie looked at Tyrell. She stared daggers into him until she felt he got the message, and then she hurried after Rief.


	47. The Payoff

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Caudgel was on top of the world.

As she lounged in the throne of Bilibin, fanning herself slowly – she wasn't officially in charge yet, but that was just a technicality – she considered her situation happily. The flickering torches on the walls set the mood perfectly, and the flowing banners merely emphasized it. She had all the power, all of it, and it was only a matter of time before the rest of the world realized it.

It was already late, and no doubt most of the city would be asleep by this point. She was used to delaying her bedtime, and on most nights she would still be awake anyway. But tonight was different. Tonight, she was staying up, putting things in order for the start of her reign, rather than simply putting off having to endure the touch of her wretched husband. She should have killed him AGES ago. It was so... freeing having him gone.

Of course, if she had killed him earlier, she wouldn't have had a scapegoat. And what a scapegoat the boy was! Naturally, no one had commented on the wound on Lord McCoy's body, how it could only have been caused by a long, thin blade rather than the greatsword little Matthew carried. The sheep under her command didn't care because they were confused, scared, and stupid. She told them to ignore it, so they ignored it.

And now she had the son of two of the Warriors of Vale imprisoned. And just a short distance away, in the same prison, was his paramour, the Queen of Morgal.

In the morning, they would be executed, and she would watch and laugh as two of the greatest obstacles in her path to glory swung limply in the wind.

She took a long sip of wine from the glass in her hand. Ah, yes, life was good. She owed a lot of it to the High Empyror, loathe though she was to admit it. The man was powerful and trustworthy, if a bit naive. He was so used to having to dominate his underlings that he didn't know what to expect from the free-willed.

Caudgel hadn't been indoctrinated, of course. She had gone to him willingly, offered her services as a master spy, and with her silver tongue had beautifully sidestepped the issue of forced obedience. She and Chalis were the only people under the Empyror's command who had their minds all to themselves.

Now Caudgel had her choker, built from the same material Doublon's sword contained. She was not an adept herself, and so she needed to worry about none of the drawbacks. She simply had a foolproof defence against psynergy of all kinds, including The High Empyror's famous indoctrination.

Once she had paved the way for the Tuaparang invasion, she would have a seat at the head of one of the most powerful nations on the planet. After that, she would stealthily move herself into a position to oust the Empyror, and then she would be unopposed. First Bilibin, then the world. But until then, she needed His Highness.

She smiled gleefully. Perhaps she should give him a call. He wasn't a total idiot, unlike most of the people she surrounded herself with. He might have an idea, or the resources, to help her deal with the problem in Morgal, the last thing that stood in the way of her ownership of Angara-

"You traitorous _whore!_" she heard as the door slammed open and five heavily-armed figures marched into the room.

Well, there was that too, she supposed. She placed her wine glass on the floor next to her throne and snapped her fan shut as she rose to meet her guests.

At the head of them was Doublon, her (apparently) former comrade.

That explained the "traitorous whore" comment. Oh well.

"Is that any way to greet me, oh Doublon the Merciless?" she asked. The general of coins had never had an extra title of any kind, let alone 'The Merciless,' but she felt it was a nice touch.

The dark-haired man gritted his teeth. He pointed his sword at her, and the four others with him fanned out, weapons drawn. "I regret ever going by that name!" he shouted. "The Empyror is a madman and a murderer. Once I'm done with you, I'm going after him."

He took his blade in both hands and set his feet apart in a firm, stable stance. "You'll pay for killing my parents," he said. "Make peace with whatever gods you follow. You're going down tonight."

Her mind raced as her plan began to come together. Her eyes flew across his companions, and out of habit, she tried to pick out the most dimwitted-looking one, hoping to manipulate him the old-fashioned way. There, the redhead. Perfect.

Wait a second.

She grinned, baring her fangs like a snake waiting to strike.

She recognized the man's description. Red hair, thick moustache, large axe, more enthusiasm than brains. Could it be...?

"Woe is me, a weak, unarmed human facing off against five of the Warriors of Vale," she said. Bluffing, of course – she didn't recognize any of the others, though one shared a strong resemblance to the boy imprisoned below, which strengthened her hypothesis. "I'm doomed, am I not?"

Felix's lack of a response confirmed her suspicions. The woman was Jenna, the tall man was Isaac, the short one was Ivan, and the redhead was Garet. In a fair fight, she really WOULD be doomed.

But Caudgel hadn't played fair in decades.

"Oh, well then I suppose all I can do is delay the inevitable. I do have reasons for you to let me live, though." She snapped her fan back open and positioned it to hide her smile as she enjoyed the refreshing breeze. "For I possess answers to questions you did not know you had."

"Don't even start-" Felix began as he stepped forward threateningly. But she had already started. And that meant he had already lost.

Caudgel snapped the fan shut again and pointed it at Isaac and Jenna. A flurry of information flew through her head. She knew everything about them, all the information that had been collected over the past 20 years. And she knew exactly how to twist it.

"You two have been undergoing some marital troubles, have you not?" she asked. "I can confirm your suspicions. We did it all. It was the Tuaparang. What do you think about that?"

The woman she now knew as Jenna laughed out loud. "It doesn't matter. We've dealt with it. Isaac and I are back together, and we're going to stay that way. What happened four years ago is irrelevant, and all that matters is here and now."

Caudgel gave an exaggerated, fake sigh and spread her arms out to each side. "I suppose you're right, then. We knew we couldn't defeat you head-on, so we tried a different technique. That failed, too. All our best efforts were for naught. Such a shame."

She snapped the fan open again for emphasis. "But as a devoted follower of The Empyror, I was supposed to train myself to defeat any of you if I encountered you. Five of you, now, I couldn't handle that. No one could. But I still made myself familiar with all of your individual cases."

"Tell me, O Felix," she said, batting her eyes bashfully, "did you know that Chalis was the one who took on their particular mission?"

Felix's eyes widened momentarily. "That's enough out of you!" he shouted. But before he could charge, Isaac stopped him.

"Wait," he said. "Let her speak. I want to hear this."

Caudgel stifled a laugh. _No, you most certainly do not._

"By now you are naturally familiar with His Highness's ability to induce loyalty in his followers," she said. "It works through manipulation of emotions. It's a Mars Adept thing, or so I understand."

She took quick stock of his expression, as well as his wife's. They were following along with every word. Good.

Caudgel paced idly in one direction, still fanning herself. She was the very picture of relaxed poise. She was speaking with friends, not taunting her enemies. She was an actress, and this was her stage.

"But you see, poor Chalis got the short end of the stick. While my Lord the Empyror can create emotions out of nothing, Chalis can only manipulate what is already there, making it wax or wane as she wishes."

A quick glance out of the corner of her eye gave her the reward she was looking for. Realization, slowly dawning upon their faces.

"So while it is true that that night would not have happened without our interference... it only accelerated the inevitable, so to speak. The love, or lust, or what-have-you, was already there. You simply didn't know it yet. When Isaac and Mia had their... encounter, it was something that would have happened eventually anyway because Chalis did nothing but jumpstart their existing emotions."

_And here come the tears,_ she thought. But she continued as if she hadn't noticed.

"Chalis is famous for using her Delusion Perfume in combination with her manipulation, as well. I'm sure your memories of the event are somewhat corrupt, or perhaps mismatched. That would explain why. The perfume makes its subjects even more willing to act out, but again, only as much as-"

"Isaac... how could you?"

Jenna's light blade now hung limply at her side. Her enthusiasm was all but sapped, and Caudgel was sure she could hear the sound of the girl's heart tearing in half. How delightful!

As the tears poured out in abundance, Jenna tried her best to speak. But she could barely form a coherent sentence. "You... you told me, you promised... but you said..."

"Jenna, I-"

SLAP.

_Perfection._

"Don't you dare speak to me!" Jenna cried. "You... how could I ever have trusted you? You came back again and again, apologizing, but you knew all along, and you just... argh!"

Isaac didn't respond.

"Anything else I should know?" she asked. "Are Matthew and Rief half-brothers, maybe? Might as well let it all out. You aren't coming home with me anyway."

"It was a mistake-"

"YOU were a mistake! I never should have married you!" Jenna wiped her eyes angrily. "Should've just... should've let you stay with your real girlfriend, while I..."

The rest of the words went unsaid as Jenna collapsed in despair. Isaac was stunned, uncomprehending. Ivan and Garet shared some of the sorrow as they watched their friends' relationship rip itself apart. Felix simply looked madder and madder.

Oh, right. Felix.

Better deal with him next.

Caudgel reached inside her robe for a trinket she carried just for this sort of situation. Visions of dominoes toppling, one after the other, filled her head as she brought it out for all to see.

* * *

Matthew was on top of the world.

Well, maybe not so much. He was, after all, still behind enemy lines. He had no idea where his parents or their friends were. But his girlfriend was safe and sound, for the first time in what seemed like an eternity. Things were looking up.

"So, sorry I'm a little new to all this, but..." Matthew scratched his head. "The military documents. Where do you think they'll be?"

Sveta gave him a gentle smile. "If Bilibin Palace is anything like my own castle, there will be a war room somewhere on the main floor. It should be difficult to miss, possibly somewhat near the meeting room we were in before. I am more concerned with what we will be able to DO with the documents, however."

Matthew hurried forward and glanced around the corner before Sveta could arrive. The coast was clear. He was being extra careful; he felt naked without his sword, and they hadn't found it in the confiscated materials locker. If they ran into any trouble-

"Matthew, please calm down. If we are found, I can deal with it, remember?"

Oh, right.

Sveta's giggle was a fair condolence. It was great to hear her laughing again. He watched her as she strode confidently into the next hallway, every bit the queen she was meant to be despite her now-ruined outfit.

As she clenched and unclenched her fists in anticipation, Matthew found himself wondering, as he had in the past, how she managed to pack so much power into such a soft, supple-

He shook his head to clear it. There would be time for that later.

Sveta peeked in through a doorway. She turned to look at him triumphantly.

"I believe this is the room we are looking for," she announced before striding inside. Matthew followed closely behind.

It was a large room with a long, rectangular table in the middle. There was a map against one wall, various pins stuck at random points, though – Matthew noticed – mostly clustered in western Morgal. That must have been to symbolize troop concentrations. Matthew didn't fancy himself a military genius, though, so he didn't even try to guess at what the different colors of pins meant.

He hurried over to a nearby drawer and pulled it open. Stacks and stacks of papers were piled within, sorted by some arbitrary numbering system. He pulled out the one closest to him and gave it a quick glance.

"Okay, uh..." he started, clearing his throat. "I'm not going to pretend to be an expert on this, but I think this is a missive from the frontlines."

Sveta had been staring at the map, but at his call she rushed over and began to read over his shoulder.

He checked the date. It was from just yesterday – probably the most recent one available. He skimmed the page, skipping over information about logistics and morale. He wasn't interested in all of that.

But then something caught his eye.

"Wow, am I reading these numbers right?" he asked. "The war's been going on for less than a week, but the Bilibin Army's already lost several hundred people. That's a little... wow."

Sveta nodded. "That could be a very good thing or a very bad thing. My people fight ferociously when cornered, but if they ARE cornered..." She let that comment stand on its own.

"Just trying to look for 'enemy' casualties," Matthew noted. "I don't know how these things are laid out, but... oh, there's another page."

Sveta nodded to indicate that she was finished reading, so Matthew flipped the missive over.

Right there at the top. Confirmed enemy KIAs. Matthew knew enough to understand that KIA stood for Killed In Action.

But... but that number couldn't be right.

Could it?

Sveta covered her mouth with both hands, suppressing a gasp.

* * *

"Garet, dear," Caudgel said, "does this belong to you?"

She held a long necklace at arm's length.

It was a beautiful piece. The chain was golden, and it shimmered in the torchlight. But what really drew the eye was the ruby at its center, catching the light and scattering it throughout the room.

Garet's axe fell to the floor with a loud clatter.

"That's... that's..." he stuttered. His hand reached out weakly, grasping at the air.

"What this is," Caudgel replied, "is a trophy brought back from an excursion. I had nothing to do with it, of course. Murder is not my forte. But it was the work of one of the generals, and he was nice enough to give it to me as a gift-"

"WHO WAS IT?" Garet cried. "That necklace... I gave it to my wife. I gave it to her the day she died. It matched her hair, she said it was beautiful... and then I never saw her again."

Caudgel casually pointed at Felix.

"He did it," she said.

She blinked in surprise as Garet crossed the room in a fraction of a second. That man was _fast_. Felix didn't even have time to dodge; Garet's fist collided with his face with a loud crack, and Felix was in the air. He recovered in time to land safely, but when he put a finger in his mouth to check his injuries, it came away bloody.

"She's lying, you idiot!" Felix shouted. "She's trying to turn us against each other! Why would I ever kill your wife?"

"You didn't know, obviously," Caudgel said. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You never DID ask for much extra information about your missions. Garet's beloved – Mona, was it? Such a pity – must not have been the only innocent woman you murdered."

Ivan broke his silence suddenly. "Listen to reason, Garet! I know you're upset, but Felix is-"

"Responsible for his parents' deaths, sadly," Caudgel finished. "He performed most of the acts that they were eventually blamed for. Very thoughtless, do you agree?"

"What a load of-"

"You would really be doing the world a favor, Garet," Caudgel said compassionately. She walked to him and placed the necklace in his hand. "After all he's done, and after everything that's happened to you... go ahead and take your revenge, Dear Sir."

Garet's hand tightened around the gemstone. And tightened. And tightened.

An audible crack filled the air as he clenched his fist hard enough to shatter the ruby.

"_Gladly._"

* * *

"But... but how is that even possible?" Matthew stammered. "I can't... I don't get it!"

Sveta threw her arms around him and buried her face in his chest. He felt her tears dampening his shirt. With one hand, he returned the embrace as he continued to stare blankly at the missive.

"..._Zero casualties,_" he said in disbelief. "I don't believe it."

Sveta laughed, crying with happiness. "My people are safe. They are all safe."

Then they both jumped as something heavy burst through one wall, flew on through and crashed through the next.

* * *

As Garet took off after Felix, Caudgel laughed gleefully, admiring his handiwork. There was a nice, Felix-shaped hole in the wall. And then another in the next room.

And then another.

"Felix!" Jenna shouted. Just before taking off after him, she spared Isaac a wrathful glare.

"This isn't over," she said. She vaulted through the hole, and after a stunned silence, Isaac followed after.

Caudgel continued fanning herself as she listened to the wonderful sound of chaos. But then she tore herself away from it.

"What's wrong, Ivan?" she asked. "You aren't going to pursue them?"

Ivan held his staff in both hands, his eyes clear as crystal. There was no hatred, no sadness. Just cold, hard logic.

And, most terrifying of all, understanding.

"I see what you're trying to do," he said. "You're making us fight each other, picking us off one by one so you don't have to deal with the whole team. It's a cheap trick. But I know your angle now, and it won't work on me. I'll sort them out once you've been dealt with."

Caudgel closed her fan with a loud snap.

"As I said, dear Ivan, I have been trained and equipped more than well enough to deal with just a single Warrior of Vale," she said, advancing toward him menacingly. Ivan took a cautious step back.

And then Caudgel stopped abruptly and gave him a smug smile.

"Not that I need to. I've saved the best for last."

Ivan laughed. "Oh, don't try to bluff me. I know you already tried to pull your psychological warfare against my family. You tried to pull my wife along with Garet's, but she happened to stay home. You missed your chance to screw me over. You've lost."

"On the contrary, dear Ivan, the best surprises are the ones you don't even expect, wouldn't you agree?" She shrugged derisively. "It's true that our assassination attempt against your wife failed miserably. But that was more of an insurance policy than anything else."

And with a long, drawn out motion, she snapped her fan open one final time.

"Your family was doomed from the start, Ivan. It was a powderkeg, and you didn't even know it. All we tried to do was light it. We failed at that. But your wife's murder was not our aim. For you see, the most shocking part would not have been her death."

Caudgel's mouth watered in anticipation. She took in Ivan's expression as she let her words hang in the air. She counted the seconds, and when the dramatic silence had lasted exactly long enough, she continued.

"It would have been at her funeral, of course. You would have been there, as would all of your friends – minus Garet's wife, of course. But there would have inevitably been one extra mourner, one you would not have expected. Tell me, Ivan, if you will..."

Her eyes narrowed, she bared all of her teeth, and it was all she could do to stop herself from physically lunging for the kill.

"Has Karis met her real father yet?"

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_:O_

_I'm a little proud of this chapter. I feel I may have overused a few words and maybe mixed metaphors a few times, but I'm not aiming for perfection. Still, what a payoff, right?_


	48. Blunt Force Trauma

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Ivan pursed his lips.

He narrowed his eyes, watching Caudgel carefully, trying to examine her body language.

Eventually, he just sighed.

"You know what?" he asked. "I actually can't tell if you're being serious. Was that a joke? I mean, that wasn't your big, impressive surprise, was it?"

Caudgel's predatory grin faltered just a hair.

He smiled and continued. "You pretty much just undermined everything you said to the others, then. See, now I know you're bluffing. You got overconfident. OF COURSE Karis is my daughter. Trying to convince me otherwise is actually hilariously stupid. Go on, though, I want to see how you try to rationalize this."

The woman's jaw worked. The usual tinge of disdain was visible in her expression, but for the first time, Ivan noticed what might have been resentment welling up. He didn't have to read her mind to know she was bothered.

She snapped her fan open again and began batting it in her own direction. A nervous habit, he realized; she had been doing it on and off for the entire encounter. Did she even notice it? Was it a tell?

"Well, you certainly did spend a lot of time away from home, dear Ivan," she said, her forced smile overlaid with a ramshackle coat of false confidence. "Surely she would have gotten very lonely-"

"I can read minds, you doofus!" Ivan interrupted. "If she had cheated on me, I'd have known about it! Good luck explaining that one away."

The fan snapped shut.

"First of all," the noblewoman began, "I will not tolerate your patronizing tone. Secondly, we cannot have a proper discussion if you are unwilling to open your mind to other possibilities. Thirdly, I just proved, _just now,_ that memories are not a reliable indicator of truth."

Her heels clicked along the hard floor as she took several slow steps toward Ivan. "You know too, do you not? As you said, you are a mind reader. You must have read both Isaac and Jenna's minds to examine their experiences. They were completely different, completely contradictory, and yet to each of them, completely true."

The sickly-sweet grin she had carried was now gone. All that remained was stone-cold determination. Having finally met a challenge, she was done playing around.

"Your wife – Claire, was it?" she said with a careless wave. "Quite the woman, really. A peerless fencer, a professional, experienced warrior, with a will and a fire to her that could not be quenched. Little Karis takes after her so strongly, don't you think?"

And Caudgel pointed, not with her fan, but with her finger, directly at Ivan. "If anyone could find a way to baffle your mind-reading talents, it would be her, would it not? She knew what she was getting into when she married you. She knew that if she didn't find a way to shield herself, she would never have any privacy ever again."

All humor had left Ivan by this point as well. This was an assault on his dignity, and the dignity of his family.

"She's not an Adept," he said. "She can't tell when I use my talents. How would she know when to try to defend herself?"

"Ivan, be honest. Have you ever, EVER read her mind without asking her for permission first?"

He ground his teeth. "...No," he admitted.

"Then that, as they say, is the kicker." The smug smile reborn, Caudgel snapped her fan open again and turned 180 degrees. As she walked away from Ivan, she continued, her voice carrying the slightest hint of pride at her triumph. "She trusts you. Of course she does. You're honest. And honest people are _so_ predictable. Face it, Ivan. You have no way of knowing that anything you've read from her is true."

Ivan's knuckles were white as they gripped his staff. He knew he could just get any answers he needed by reading the noblewoman's mind, but... but he didn't _need_ to. He knew he could trust his wife. These allegations were patently ludicrous. No one had ever managed to block his mind-reading before. If someone tried, they would be thinking about trying, and he would notice. So Caudgel had to be lying, once again.

Right?

"Anyway, there are other options, too. The intelligence reports and their associated mission debriefings are all in Tuaparang, sadly, otherwise I would show you myself." Caudgel gave an almost-apologetic shrug. "But it does not seem outside the realm of possibility that poor Claire might have gotten a dose of Delusion Perfume at some point as well, does it? And who ever said that she KNEW she had cheated on you? Perhaps after one of your long trips, she found a mysterious, disguised visitor in her room and, thinking it was you-"

"Karis is my daughter!" Ivan shouted angrily. "She's mine. She has my best qualities, she... she's a Jupiter Adept, like myself-"

"_She is a Jupiter Adept that lacks your trademark!_" the woman shrieked as she whirled to face him. "Face it, Ivan! You are hardly the only Jupiter Adept in the world – just one of the only ones who can read minds! If Karis was really yours, why would she not have gotten the whole package? Why only MOST of your psynergy talents, but not all? Where is the blonde hair that marks an Anemos descendant? Claire is certainly a lucky one, Ivan, in that her daughter followed after her so closely!"

What chilled Ivan most of all about Caudgel's expression was not the raw hatred it exuded. It was not the malice, the fervent wish to _destroy_ that dripped from her every pore. The most terrifying part was her absolute sincerity. True, she was no longer saying outright that Karis was illegitimate, but she was giving evidence and examples, proof of the possibility-

"Put Karis and Claire side-by-side, and they would look to be reflections of one another! But what if that were not the case? Do you honestly believe that there was ever a chance that she may have had your hair, or your stature, or _anything?_ If she's yours, then from whence came her Healing Wind abilities? You can't do it, and your wife isn't even an adept! And what about her affinity with machines? You dabble, but you don't have her raw talent. She reads machines like you read minds. But beyond the sword, your wife is barely familiar with technology at all. It was not from her. Tell me, Ivan, _where did it come from if not from you?_"

Ivan's expression darkened. His blood boiled. He felt the wind erupt within him, a hurricane of power and intent. He reached out toward the mind of the offender, intending to pry it open and prove once and for all that she was lying, that it was all just a cruel joke-

"Aaaagh!" he cried, clutching his head.

Caudgel blinked with surprise. She looked down and, as she began to pull the edge of her choker just a fraction away from her slim neck to get a look at it, a hesitant smile came to her face.

It had been glowing. The glow was fading, but that was beside the point – it had absorbed psynergy just a moment before. Ivan had felt the backlash as his mindreading attempt was repelled.

"Aaaaahahahahahaha!" she laughed. Her eyes were wide and manic, her grin showing all of her teeth. "No, no, no, Ivan! No cheating! You'll just have to decide for yourself if I'm telling the truth or not, using your wits like the rest of us!"

Ivan lashed out with a bolt of lightning. It fizzled out of existence before hitting her, and the display just made her laugh even more.

Enraged, he charged at her, staff first. He took a wild swing and she dodged effortlessly. He swung the other way, and she simply stepped backward out of range. He jabbed and she guided it aside with a single hand, swiftly moving within his guard.

She slapped him in the face and then pulled away once again.

Of course she was toying with him. She had regained the upper hand.

"I told you," she said, "I have been trained extensively to deal with any single one of you. If anything, you'd be the easiest, Dear Ivan, as you are a psynergy specialist and _I am immune to psynergy._ Frankly, you're lucky I let you live this long already, and the only reason I did that is because it is so delightfully enjoyable to watch as you come to the realization that your whole life has been a lie, that your marriage has been a sham!"

He swung wildly at her once more, and she caught the staff in midair, stopping it with a single outstretched finger.

"But now I must take my leave. Fare thee well, Ivan," she said.

She snapped her fan shut and spun it in her hand, somehow revealing a carefully hidden blade as she drove it in toward him-

"Aargh!" he cried, feeling the blade cut across his cheek as he narrowly avoided a fatal blow. He brought his staff back and caught Caudgel in the back of her knee, hoping to unbalance her.

But she spun with the blow, and by the time she had turned to face him, she was holding several spherical objects in one hand.

She cast them on the ground and they burst into blinding, stinging smoke.

Ivan shielded his eyes quickly, covering his nose and mouth at the same time. He didn't need his eyes to know where she was. He opened his heart to the world, using the Reveal ability to search his surroundings for her.

He saw through the smoke very clearly, except for an indistinct blob of darkness somewhere near the door of the room. That had to be her, of course; her choker was absorbing even the Reveal psynergy. But now he knew where she was.

_tinktinktinktink_

He made a move to pursue her, and arcs of lightning shot out from the four spark shurikens that had landed around his feet. Pain wracked his body to the point where he couldn't move a single muscle, and he crumpled to the ground helplessly.

The spark shurikens ran out of their charge after about half a minute, and by that point, the smoke had cleared. But Caudgel was nowhere to be found.

Ivan let himself fall to the ground limply. He didn't even have the motivation to stand.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_I started writing this a little late, but I knew it'd be cruel to leave on that cliffhanger so I figured a short chapter was better than nothing._

_It actually surprised me that almost everyone objected to the end of the last chapter, not because I didn't expect people to say it was impossible (ie. I had this chapter's opening planned out already), but because you guys kept saying they have to be related because of the Adept connection. _

_Quick history lesson:_

_-Adepts, traditionally, have appeared either through genetic inheritance or near areas with high concentrations of alchemy; places like Imil (near Mercury Lighthouse), Gaia Rock (near Izumo) and Vale (near Sol Sanctum) produce Adepts of similarly-aligned elements._

_-Sol Sanctum sort of counts for all of the elements. We know explicitly that Vale produces both Venus and Mars Adepts at the very least, and I (at least) got the feeling that there were Jupiter and Mercury specialists there too. It wouldn't make sense for the village of Adepts to only have representatives from two elements._

_-Nearly ALL of the Vale refugees went to Kalay._

_-Therefore, Kalay probably contains Jupiter Adepts that aren't Ivan._

_-Ivan lives in Kalay. Karis was born and, presumably, conceived there._

_-Furthermore, we've seen people (Feizhi and Eoleo) manifest psynergy not because of where they live, but in the aftermath of the Mt Aleph eruption. Apparently, getting smoked on the head with a psynergy stone has a chance of making you magical. So there's that. _

_-So if Ivan is NOT, in fact, Karis's father (and I'm not commenting :3) then there are plenty of places she could've gotten her talents from._

_I admit that I was really tempted to drop the whole thing and actually have Karis be part werewolf, though. That would be badass to handwave and I would LOVE that dimension of her character._


	49. Fracture

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

As Garet tore through the next room after his quarry, he was dimly aware of several things. First, Matthew and Sveta were staring in awe on the sidelines. He didn't even spare them a glance; he simply knew they were there. Second, there was a large table in the way. Half a second later, there were two smaller tables in its place, lying amongst hundreds of tiny splinters. Third, he had forgotten to pick up his axe. Screw that, it was too late to turn back.

Felix might've had a chance to get away.

Garet barrelled through the second person-shaped hole in the room. His head darted around, searching through the kicked-up dust for his target. He heard a cough, and launched himself in that direction fist-first.

He came out of the dust cloud and saw a flash of black – Felix's outfit – a little bit to the right of a cracked indent in the wall – Felix's landing site – and a little to the left of where Garet's fist was heading. Felix stopped in his tracks and backpedalled several steps down the hallway they found themselves in as Garet embedded himself wrist-deep in the wall.

Drawing his weapon, Felix sat back in a defensive position. On any other day, Garet would've thought twice about facing an armed opponent barehanded. But to say it was an irregular day would be a tragic understatement. Garet ripped his fist out of the wall, consolidated his position, and watched Felix for signs of weakness.

"Garet, you idiot, think for a minute!" Felix shouted. "I've never seen that necklace before in my life, and even if I had, why would I give it to HER?"

Garet wasn't in the mood for logic. He roared and darted forward.

The Mars Adept let fly several swift jabs, but he no longer held the element of surprise. Felix simply danced around them, even keeping his sword out of the way so as to avoid unnecessary contact. Of course, Garet interpreted this as a cocky, arrogant gesture on the other man's part. It simply made him angrier.

He held a hand outward and let his fury bubble up within him. Bubbling like... like _magma._

The floor grew red-hot and began to shake as Garet called forth a miniature volcano. He poured all of his energy into it, feeling the planet's crust split as he egged the boiling rock onward.

Suddenly, Felix hopped backward a step – just out of the way of the visibly hot stone floor – and slammed his sword, point-first, into the ground. All at once, Garet's connection to the flow of magma stopped, the sword cutting it as surely as if it had been a physical string. The psynergy he was pouring into it was sucked dry in an instant, leaving him a little off-balance.

He knew he had left himself open. But instead of moving to defend himself, he just attacked again. He dashed forward, aware but uncaring of the blisteringly-hot floor, and went for an all-in uppercut.

Felix was unprepared. At the last moment, he managed to jerk aside, but in reflex, he brought his blade outward to deflect. He landed awkwardly on his left ankle, throwing out his arms to steady himself, and in doing so made a light gash in Garet's forearm.

Garet felt all his strength leave him, snuffed out like a campfire in a sudden storm. He fell forward, landing on his hands and knees. The cut was bleeding only a little, but that didn't seem to matter. It was as though he had lost the will to fight. His connection to the inner workings of the world was severed. His eyes began to darken and all he wanted to do was sleep-

"No..." he muttered. "Not gonna... not gonna let you win..."

Felix sheathed his sword with haste. "I didn't mean to do that to you," he said, "but you need to stop. Seriously. We can talk about this, and you CANNOT defeat me in a one-on-one fight. I don't want to hurt you, but I will if that's what it takes to end this."

Garet brought himself up on one shaky leg. He locked eyes with Felix, baring his teeth and showing all of his hatred and wrath through his expression. What he now lacked in actual, physical fire he more than made up for with the fire in his gaze.

"Gonna have to... kill me then..." Garet growled.

"We can work this out."

"You killed my wife."

"I didn't kill your wife."

"You killed... MY WIFE!"

Garet pulled himself to his feet. He had no energy, he had no strength, but it didn't matter anymore. He let his anger take over. He couldn't stand, and yet he stood. He couldn't win, and yet...

"Garet, look at yourself. I accidentally cut you with this thing. Mia passed out after contact, through clothes, with the FLAT of it. Let's just-"

"NO!"

Garet lashed out, taking Felix by surprise. His right hook was barely blocked when Felix raised a hand to catch it. The punch was followed by a kick to the side of the knee, which Felix twisted to avoid.

This left him with no way to avoid Garet's second punch, a straight jab to the shoulder.

Felix was thrown several feet by the force of the blow.

* * *

"Mom, what the hell's going on?"

Matthew walked quickly to intercept his mother as she hurried in Garet's wake. Jenna just shook her head dismissively.

"Your uncle's in trouble because Garet's being an idiot. I'm going to go break up the fight, and if your father knows what's good for him, he'll be on Felix's side too. Not that I really care at this point."

She kept walking. Matthew slowed to a stop, his arms outstretched in askance. There were simply too many questions; which one to ask first?

"N-not that you care? Wait, I thought you and Dad had... didn't you make up?"

"Yeah. That turned out to be a mistake, I guess," Jenna spat. "Hurry up, Isaac, I can hear them fighting up ahead!"

Matthew's head snapped back to his father, just entering the room. Sveta stood off to the side, her face an awkward mix of worry and fear, with just a hint of pretending-not-to-be-involved. Isaac, on the other hand, was very, very involved. He looked tired and defeated. He very nearly looked his age.

"Mom, just... just stop for a sec-"

"Matthew, I'd love to stop and talk, just to make up for lost time. I really would." Jenna said. Her expression softened for just a moment as their eyes met. "But that... that_ woman_ in there somehow managed to convince Garet that Felix... well, if I don't go now, I might not have a brother for much longer."

"Then can I _at least know why my family's breaking up again?_" Matthew cried. "You didn't even tell me why it happened in the first place! I was thirteen, and it literally took me a year to realize that it was more than just a big, long camping trip! I'm your son. I'm almost old enough to start a family of my own. And I deserve to know."

Isaac stepped forward. "Jenna... you go break up the fight. I'll talk with Matthew about what happened."

"What, you aren't coming?" she snapped. "Your best friend and your brother-in-law – whom, I might add, was thought to be missing for decades – are fighting to the death over what has to be a mis-"

She was interrupted by another loud crash. The walls reverberated. Jenna looked in the direction of the source, then back to Isaac.

"Go," Isaac said wearily. "Try to keep both of them alive. Garet's your friend, too."

Jenna narrowed her eyes. "I know my priorities," she hissed.

She turned and stormed out of the room, and as soon as she was out of sight, Isaac clasped Matthew on the shoulder.

"I'm sorry, Matthew," the forty-seven-year-old muttered. "I'm very, very sorry. All this is my fault, and if I had just been a little wiser..."

"Dad, just tell me what happened."

"Right, right. Of course. You deserve to know. The timing couldn't be worse, but..."

ooo

"Aaargh!"

Felix rolled as he landed, trying and failing to ride his momentum back to a standing position. He had put his arm out to catch himself, and it crumpled uselessly upon contact with the floor. Felix had an instant to wonder why before he felt the pain shoot through him like a jolt of electricity.

When he finally stopped rolling, he got his bearings, carefully picked himself up on his uninjured arm, and inspected the damage with the few moments he had. His shoulder was fine, oddly enough; he had rolled with the punch, despite being unable to completely dodge it. His forearm, however, was going to need some serious attention.

He had broken limbs before, sometimes badly. He had enough experience with that kind of pain to know that his arm wasn't actually in terrible shape. But it was absolutely out of commission for the time being. Worse, it was his sword arm that had taken the hit; he could use his left hand, but not to nearly the same effect.

A thought occurred to him.

Why the hell had a simple fall broken his arm? He'd been through WAY worse before, and he wasn't exactly getting any older.

Garet's next battlecry snapped Felix out of his reverie. He awkwardly drew his sword with his left hand and brought it into a defensive stance, shifting the rest of his body to protect his wounded limb. Reasoning with Garet wasn't going to work – he'd have to be incapacitated. And Felix knew that would be much, much harder to do with his off-hand without causing Garet serious injury.

Garet charged forward for what felt to Felix like the thousandth time. With his sword in his hand, Felix shifted slightly to the side and brought the blade out at a threatening angle, hoping to intimidate Garet. It didn't work, naturally; the red-haired man had set aside anything resembling a self-preservation instinct at this point. But Felix had expected this.

As the sword came down, Garet dodged around, throwing a predictably-aimed punch with his remaining momentum. With the sword's strike and the hallway's width limiting his options, and his rage clouding his judgment, Garet aimed for Felix's face, his fist following what he didn't realize was an obvious route of attack. Felix ducked just a few inches, stepping forward underneath Garet's arm, and followed his initial strike through with a slap against Garet's leg with the side of the blade.

Felix's practiced eye saw Garet stagger just a hair and slow just a fraction before they turned to face each other again.

Garet blinked slowly. He looked like he hadn't slept in weeks.

His fists clenched, and he gritted his teeth. He was trying to psyche himself up.

"Killed... my... you killed her..." Garet roared. "Gotta... gotta get revenge for her!"

"I thought there might've been a chance for a bit, yeah," Felix admitted, "but when that necklace came out as 'proof,' I knew it was impossible. I've never seen that thing before in my life. I killed for the Empyror in my... less enlightened days, yes. But I didn't kill your wife, and I don't know who did."

If Garet even heard anything, he gave no indication. He was raving mad, practically foaming at the mouth.

_Geez, I should really just finish him off. I'd be doing the world a favor._

But... no, he wouldn't, Felix realized. That would be doing the High Empyror a favor. Garet was a little lost for now, yeah, but he was a teammate, and a friend, and-

_And he's just going to keep coming back after me. What an idiot. Who's next, then, after me? Is he going to go after Sheba for failing to see it coming? Maybe Isaac for just not being there to stop it? Maybe it's worth just doing this little favor for His Highness-_

NO.

Felix shook his head. No, not again. He wasn't going to let himself fall back into that pattern of madness and false triumph. Killing Garet would be beyond simple, but it would be the wrong thing to do, despite what The Empyror would have had him believe. The High Empyror wanted each and every Warrior of Vale dead, and he had done his best to guide Felix's mind in the same direction. But it would be WRONG.

_Wrong? It would be far from wrong. You could be saving countless lives. How much longer before Garet starts unleashing Djinn on me? How long before he calls down a Meteor and kills everyone in it?_

...Maybe... But if Felix could finish the fight fast enough-

_You have no idea how long it'll be. _

But-

_He should be unconscious already. Garet has some serious determination. What makes you think he'll EVER fall? This could all be for nought, and by the time you realize it, he'll have already-_

"Felix!"

He snapped his head around for one crucial instant. He saw a flash of red hair coming down the hallway for just an instant before he felt a fist collide with the back of his skull.

* * *

"So... Matthew... You know that when I was your age, I was actually seeing Mia, not your mother, right?"

Matthew nodded. He was somewhat aware of that fact, not that he had ever given it any thought. It was years before he was born. He and Rief might have casually joked about it at one point, given that they might have been brothers in another world, but it was in the past. Wasn't it?

"Well, we broke it off... both of us knew that there was nothing to our relationship. Mia and I had a kind of mutual attraction, but while she's probably my closest friend aside from Garet, we just aren't romantically compatible." Isaac paused. "Not in a way I feel like talking with my son about, at least.

"Anyway, we started dating after Venus Lighthouse. Then we stopped before Jupiter. Then the Golden Sun happened, we all helped rebuild, Jenna went to help with Vault, and I started dating Mia again after she left. Then we broke up before she returned. That's how short-lived our relationships were. It just never seemed important enough to tell Jenna about-"

"Hey, but you DID tell Mom!" Matthew interrupted. "Of course she knows. I know, and you haven't exactly tried to hide it-"

"I'm getting there," Isaac continued. "See... one day, Mia wrote to me saying that she was worried her husband was cheating. He'd go away on sailing trips for months on end and return empty-handed. She felt like her entire life was falling apart. So as a friendly gesture, I invited her to stay with your mother and I for a little while. This was four years ago.

"Jenna and Mia... well, they had never really had a chance to make friends. After Jupiter Lighthouse, which is when we all met up, we pretty much made a beeline for Mars Lighthouse. Felix's group and mine sort of kept to ourselves. We were all one team, in concept, but we never really made that leap. I don't think I've ever said more than a handful of words to Sheba, myself, for example.

"So Jenna and Mia got to talking. It didn't take long for them to get on the topic of relationships, and... well, Mia decided that it would be a good idea to connect as wife and ex-girlfriend. Jenna got as mad as ever, and stormed out, and then..."

Isaac trailed off, looking forlorn. But then his eyes snapped into focus.

"Then what?" Matthew asked. "What happened?"

"Hold that thought. Matthew, you fought Chalis, right?" Isaac grabbed Matthew by the shoulders. "Then you've been affected by her delusion perfume. Tell me what it was like."

Matthew thought for a moment. He didn't really remember it all that well. His fight with Blados and Chalis was a bit of a blur.

"I can't really say," he said. "I forget most of it. Which seems kind of weird, considering how important the fight was. But... I remember a spray of air in my face, and then it became sort of difficult to think straight."

Sveta cleared her throat. "It did not last long," she said. "I helped clear the delusion from Matthew's mind. He did try to remove my goggles for some reason before I had the chance to, though."

"Remove your goggles? Why would I have done that?" Matthew asked. "I don't remember anything of the sort. I remember trying to be extra-impressive, for the lack of a better word, but-"

* * *

_While Eoleo, Amiti and Himi had the wolf tied up in combat, Tyrell and Karis were doing their best to hold Blados back. That left Matthew and Sveta to deal with Chalis while Rief stood back to help anyone that needed it._

_Sveta kicked, more swift than powerful, to attract Chalis's attention. The general lazily extended a claw to knock Sveta's strike aside before turning toward Matthew. Sveta spun and landed nimbly on her feet just in time to see Chalis emit a pink spray from her wrist. It enveloped Matthew's head and he collapsed instantly._

"_Help!" Sveta cried. "Matthew is down!" _

_Rief whirled and unleashed a punishing barrage of ice that forced Chalis back several steps. He ran a few steps forward, and then stopped. _

"_He isn't hurt!" Rief answered. "His head's just off, is all. I'll hold her back, see what you can do for him in the meantime!"_

_Sveta nodded. She rushed to her fallen friend._

"_Matthew?" she asked. "Are you alright? Can you move?"_

_Matthew smiled happily, a child on the eve of his birthday. He brought a hand up into the air and stared at it philosophically. He turned it over to look at the other side and was just as impressed._

"_Alright, then," Sveta mumbled. "I am just going to- HEY!"_

_Matthew's hand grasped her by the ear and pulled her closer._

"_L-let me go! Those are sensitive..."_

_Matthew's other hand came up and fumbled against her face. His fingers smudged the lenses on her Umbra Goggles before she swatted his hand aside._

"_Matthew! Pay attention!" she protested. She pulled his other hand off of her ear._

_That hand immediately went back to the goggles, which he actually managed to push up onto her forehead._

_Sveta's vision swam as it adjusted to the change in ambient light. She shut her eyes in reflex, and the next instant a hand was on her neck pulling her closer toward the ground._

_She threw her hands out to catch herself and snapped her eyes open. All she saw was a sea of blue._

_It took her several seconds to realize that she was looking into Matthew's eyes. She was right next to his face. She could smell his breath clearly, human and familiar but vaguely minty, and his eyes were very, very blue..._

"_Matthew...?" she whispered. "Is... is there something you are trying to tell me?"_

_She heard a faint giggle. She dared not breathe._

"_...Glittery..." said a faint voice from somewhere below her. She didn't recognize it._

_The hand on her neck continued to rub, ever so gently, and she almost let herself just fall into the embrace, but there was a battle going on, and-_

"_ACK!" she cried, as he seized her other ear._

_She slapped him in the face, gathered herself up and fired the strongest Boon she could at Matthew. Then she pulled him to his feet and turned back to the fight without waiting to make sure he could stand on his own._

_She put her goggles back on, doing her best to keep a stony expression._

_No one saw anything._

* * *

Sveta giggled in spite of the tension. "Glittery! That is what you said! I had no idea what you meant at the time, but..."

Matthew blushed. Isaac sighed.

"The delusion perfume interferes with memory. That's why you don't remember what happened. And that's why it took so long for us to get the complete picture about what actually transpired that night four years ago," he said. "Right before we left, Jenna and I agreed to put the past behind us because our stories didn't match. What I remember is that Mia and I had a quiet discussion that ended in friendly hand-holding. What Jenna remembers is... shall we say, much more than hand-holding.

"Either way, Jenna threw me out of the house and has held a grudge against Mia ever since. We set out just a few days ago under the agreement that we would let bygones be bygones, and that actually went brilliantly... until we met Caudgel, who brought up that night's events, claiming to know what actually happened. Apparently Chalis has the ability to manipulate emotions, but only emotions that already exist, and she used her perfume to bring out the feelings Mia and I had for each other. So... there's that."

Matthew raised an eyebrow.

"So Mom's mad at you because the bad guys made you cheat on her?"

"No, she's mad because I still had feelings for Mia! I... argh, I explained it all wrong. It sounded much more convincing when Caudgel said it..."

"Because Caudgel is an expert at speechcraft."

Sveta broke the silence again, hesitantly stepping forward. The faintest trace of a smile still graced her lips, but whether it was left over from reminiscing or from confidence, Matthew did not know.

"When we visited her, before we knew she was hostile, she managed to turn what should have been a peace negotiation into a surrender for Morgal. She actually had me volunteering to be hanged in exchange for my peoples' freedom, when the war between our nations is actually going as good as it could possibly be for the beastmen." She gestured to the cabinet that she and Matthew had been perusing before being interrupted. "By Bilibin's accounts, we have not lost a single soldier. I know not how that is possible, but it is certainly a desirable outcome, is it not?"

Isaac raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Caudgel is a liar, Sir Isaac. She uses hints of truth to help manipulate her audience before playing on their insecurities for the finishing blow. If she really knew enough about you to use that night's events against you, is it really that much of a stretch to believe that she may have fabricated Chalis's involvement altogether?"

Matthew beamed. Isaac just blinked in confusion.

"But... but neither of us remembered, and it just... all the pieces fell together. Jenna and I both suspected that I..."

"Well, perhaps I went a little too far," Sveta admitted, "but you cannot take Caudgel's word at face value. She most likely had something to do with how Garet is acting as well, did she not? And Jenna certainly knew that he was misguided."

Isaac glanced away apprehensively. "But... but I still love Mia, don't I? And I can't, not if-"

"I love Matthew," Sveta interrupted. "And I also love Tyrell. I also love Rief, and Amiti, and Eoleo, and Himi, but I love Matthew far more than any of the others. How do you feel about Jenna?"

Isaac was speechless.

"She is your favorite, is she not?" Sveta reached out, placed her hands on Isaac's temples, and glowed with psynergy for a second or two. "Yes, she is. Just as Matthew is my favorite. I love all the others as friends, and you love Mia as a friend. You just let your fears get the better of you. Right?"

"I... I..." Isaac ran a hand through his hair. "Huh."

"Right. So go and tell Jenna, and if you cannot convince her, then bring her back here and I will see what I can do. At the very least you can stop Felix and Garet from murdering each other."

Isaac's mouth worked uselessly for several seconds.

Then he cleared his throat and straightened his posture. "Erm, thanks," he muttered before setting off after Jenna.

Sveta folded her hands neatly and smugly in front of her. Matthew stared at her in astonishment.

"How the hell'd you do that?" he asked.

"You are welcome," she answered. "And before you ask, no, I did not actually read his mind. But I did not need to. Any man who goes to that much effort to regain his wife's trust deserves to believe he is worthy of it, at the very least!"

Matthew ran a hand through his hair in much the same way that his father had, eliciting another giggle from Sveta. He allowed himself a light smirk, in spite of the fact that a minute before he thought his family would be broken up once again.

"I'm sorry you had to see that," Matthew said, "but I hope you're right. I hope it's all just a trick, and I hope Mom can be brought around as well. Just... one thing."

"Hmm?"

"When you were listing our friends... okay, two things, actually. First, you don't ACTUALLY love them, right?"

Sveta burst out laughing. "Oh, please! As friends, certainly. But... oh, my, can you imagine? Tyrell or Amiti or Rief... and Eoleo is twice my age! No, Matthew, it was a figure of speech-"

"Second... why didn't you mention Karis?"

Sveta stopped laughing immediately. A chill went down Matthew's spine at the abrupt change in her mood.

Her eyes narrowed, her ears flattened, and her fangs even seemed to be more visible as she spoke.

"Because Karis is a monster, Matthew," she said. "She is a monster and nothing else. I will speak no more of her."


	50. Coldblooded Murder

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"_It was quite a brilliant plan, if I do say so myself. It would have worked, too, if not for that meddling Arcanus."_

"_I'll admit I kind of saw that coming, actually. Arcanus was never what you would call a 'team player.' "_

"_I know, but I thought my talents had him in thrall anyway. He certainly acted the part. He simply happened to find the exact moment when he could ruin everything, and did so. That's what's so unnerving about all this."_

"_He did help, in a way. We would never have initiated the Eclipse without him, and the children could not have gathered the orbs for us if he hadn't helped us band them together."_

"_But in the end, if I had called him back, we still would have won. Two of our generals, a shadow monster, and a full legion of warriors? Even for offspring of the Warriors of Vale, those should have been insurmountable odds. Arcanus took care of the warriors, though, and even you could not have been expected to fight eight little demigods all alone."_

"_I mean no offense, brother, but... it still seems like too great of a risk to have them involved at all."_

"_I agree, but it was required by circumstance. The Apollo Lens still needed the orbs that, as you said, we needed the children to acquire. The Eclipse would have weakened Angara, to be sure. But that was only step one, and we would have had to turn off Luna Tower eventually."_

"_Did you have a plan for that?"_

"_Fire the Apollo Lens at it."_

"_Oh."_

"_The Lens' effects on the Tower were actually incredibly interesting. I'll have to look into them in more detail when we're done here."_

"_...Again, what are we doing here?"_

"_Why, step two, of course."_

* * *

"What's his problem?"

Karis smacked Tyrell firmly on the back of the head.

"You know damn well what his 'problem' is! Gah, Tyrell, you are SUCH a goon sometimes!" she cried. "Haven't you ever even heard of tact? Maybe breaking things to people slowly? You know that Rief's kind of... kind of a..."

"A momma's boy."

"Yes, that- wait, what?"

Kraden cleared his throat and repeated himself. "Rief is what you would call a momma's boy. There's no use hiding it, not in this situation. To be quite honest, I know him a great deal better than I know Mia, and I will actually vouch for Tyrell's methods; Rief would have either ignored any criticism of her, or broken down as we saw. There would be no middle ground."

Both Karis and Tyrell blinked in surprise at Kraden's frank speech.

"Wait, so I'm right?" Tyrell asked. "Cool, I helped-"

"Not exactly," Kraden continued. "Keep in mind that we now lack a Mercury Adept of any kind. Mia has defected, and Rief has run off. I do believe he will come around in due time, though I cannot predict how... shall we say, clear-headed he will be. Either he'll be a shattered husk of a young man, or he'll find some resolve deep within himself and use it to the benefit of everyone involved.

"But for now, we can only hope that the others inside the palace are unharmed. We lack any effective means of mending wounds until either of our Imilians comes around."

Karis and Tyrell looked at each other nervously. If the adults had gone off to fight one of the Tuaparang generals, it was more than likely that someone would need a doctor before the night was out.

"...What do we do?" Tyrell asked.

Kraden shrugged. "You're the warriors. I just advise."

Karis nodded. "Well, we need to get our priorities straight. We know how much trouble we had with Chalis and Blados. Those generals are dangerous. Even though they're only fighting one of them, our parents could be in for some trouble. That's gotta be our main focus right now – making sure nobody dies."

"I've got an axe now," Tyrell said. "I could head inside and see if I can't get stuck in somewhere. They'll do better with greater numbers, right?"

But Karis shook her head. "No offense, Tyrell, but our parents are probably way better at this than we are. You might get in the way, or worse, McCoy might try to pick you off first. No, I think we need to focus on getting our healers back. Tyrell, how bad has Mia gotten?"

Straining his memory slightly, he tried to think of the last time he saw Mia, back at her home in Imil. She had been an utter sweetheart back then. Snarky, yes, but still sweet. Now she had a serious edge to her. Before, there had always been an undercurrent of benevolence – everything she did, you could tell she did with the best of intentions. Back in the prison, though, it felt like she had a different motive. She still wanted to do the right thing, but now she had a different idea of what that right thing was.

"I can't really say," Tyrell finally croaked. "I don't think she'd hurt us if we tried talking to her, if that's what you mean. But she'd probably try to recruit us to the Tuaparang given an opportunity."

Karis smiled grimly. "Well, I guess that's a risk we have to take, then. If we can convince Mia to co-operate, even temporarily, then getting Rief back should be a synch. Then we can pick up the pieces from our parents' fight in the palace as we plan our next move."

Tyrell's voice held an air of uncertainty. "I, ah, don't think you should bank too hard on Mia coming back to help us, unless you promise that Jenna won't be involved. That would be some seriously bad business."

"What about just getting Rief back?" Karis wondered aloud. "Kraden, what do you think are the chances that he'll pull himself together by the end of the night?"

"Honestly, I cannot even begin to guess," the scholar answered. "Normally I would say that he needs some time alone, but... that girl of his is a wildcard. She might make things better, she might make things far worse. You're right that bringing Mia back would snap Rief out of it quite quickly, but other than that, I feel any interference on our part could be disastrous."

Karis sighed helplessly.

"Well then," Tyrell said, "looks like we should go after Mia and hope for the best!"

"Quick question. If Kraden's sitting out on the decision-making, then would you say I get to be leader in Matthew's place?" Karis asked.

Tyrell shrugged and, thinking it over for a minute, nodded his head yes. She WAS the smart one, after all.

"Then I'm going to have to ask you to stay here."

"What?" Tyrell shouted. "No fair! You just did that to trick me!"

Karis shook her head mournfully. "Tyrell, I'm sorry. I really am. But you have a history with Mia, and let's face it, you have a tendency to think before you act. This is a delicate matter and one wrong outburst could ruin everything. I'll go it alone for now."

"You can't-"

"I can and I will. You said you'd let me take charge, and that's what I'm doing." Karis took a deep breath, steadying herself before she continued. "Try to avoid talking to Rief, if at all possible. And if my dad comes out... just tell him that I'm looking forward to talking with him when this is all over."

She turned an about-face and left before anyone could protest.

* * *

"Wait! Stop!" she shouted. "Rief, just... just let me-"

He stopped and spun, dramatically setting his eyes on her just in time for her to collide with him. They fell in a heap on the cobblestone pathway, alone in the dark alley Rief had led them to. He hadn't been walking with any purpose; honestly, he just wanted to get away. He hadn't wanted to be followed, either, and Maddie had had to pester him for a good few minutes before he reacted at all.

Lot of good that had done him.

He groaned, sore all over from the collision. Maddie picked herself up off of his chest and grimaced timidly.

"...Sorry..." she mumbled.

Rief just sighed. He didn't bother trying to stand up, or sit up, or... or anything. He just let himself lie there for a bit, lacking in any motivation to do anything else. He closed his eyes and tried to shut the world out. He ignored the girl's weight on his stomach, he ignored the cold stone at his back, and he especially ignored the throbbing pain in his head from smacking it against the ground.

Really, he deserved what he got. He was just living with the consequences of his own failures, as usual. Tyrell was right. He'd screwed up. He'd left his mother all alone years ago, just assuming she'd get along great as she always had. Then he sees her again after what, five years? And she gets kidnapped immediately. Any caring son would've gone after her regardless of the costs.

Rief naturally went straight in the opposite direction and got himself committed to some girl that wouldn't leave him alone. Go figure.

"You know what? Just, fuckin'..." Rief stopped, searching for the right word. He gave up with a growl of frustration. "Maddie, just get the hell out of here! I didn't want to be followed, and I don't need anyone to try to help me. I made a mistake that cost me my mother. I have to cope with that. ALONE."

"But I... you don't mean-"

"Yeah, I mean! Get off me, go away, go home! You're annoying, and crazy, and I have bigger shit to deal with right now than you."

He opened his eyes and froze at her expression. She looked like someone had just run over her dog. And that meant he was torn – on the one hand, he had WANTED to hurt her feelings. He wanted her to leave. But on the other...

"But... you saved my life, and my brother's life..." she whispered. "And we kissed... I thought you liked me..."

Rief sighed. "Well, I dunno, I DO like you, but-"

"...You called me crazy and annoying..."

"Well, you..."

He stopped. His momentum had run its course. He didn't want to hurt her that badly. If he was honest with himself, then yeah, she was crazy. She was a clingy, obsessed fangirl that wouldn't shut up about how great he was and how they were destined to be together forever.

But he did like her, just a little. And once she had started to calm down, he had liked her more.

"I'm sorry, then," he said. "I hope you'll understand. There's kind of a lot going on, and getting tackled to the ground didn't help matters."

Maddie nodded silently, her expression unchanging and her eyes moist. She rolled off of his stomach and sat down with her back to the nearby wall and her arms around her knees. It was impossible to see her properly in the darkness. The moonlight partially illuminated most of the city, but the alleyway they had found themselves in was almost pitch-black, and in her dark green clothes, she was almost invisible against the wall.

"It's okay," she said, "I get it. I came on too strong. It's just, I really, really like you, and I really do think we're meant to be-"

"Maddie, _please_..."

"-and I want to be useful in any way I can! I can't fight monsters, and I can't heal wounds or bring back the dead, but I'm here to listen if you want to talk! I'll shut up for you, if you like. I'll never speak a word again if you don't want me to. Just let me help you with this, okay?"

Rief didn't move from where he lay.

"I don't think this is a problem we can solve by talking," he said.

"...That doesn't mean we can't try, right?" she answered.

Right. Of course.

It was worth a try.

"I... I guess what my problem is..." he began, "is that I was never really an attentive son. Looking back, I can see all kinds of situations where I should have helped Mom in some way, or been supportive or something, and just didn't because I figured she could handle it. She was one of the heroes who saved the world, right? She could take care of anything. Dad was never really around, he always had these several-month-long fishing trips, but Mom never made a fuss about it. He was away more often than he was home, but she took care of us as well or better than any two parents could have.

"So when Kraden showed up five years ago, when I was 11 and Nowell was 13, we both asked if we could go with him on his travels around the world. Study psynergy, see the sights, that sort of thing. Mom had taught us both how to use our Mercury abilities, so we were well prepared, and the stories she had told us about her adventures always made us want to be heroes on our own. Dad wasn't around, and he probably didn't care. Mom wanted us to be happy, so she said yes. And it didn't even occur to me to realize that it'd leave her completely alone in the house."

At this point, Rief sat up and pulled himself against the opposite wall. That side of the alleyway was a little more well-lit due to the angle of the moon, but it did make it harder to see into the shadowy section as a result.

"We exchanged letters pretty frequently. I was always telling her about all the stuff we saw on the road. She never had much to say, but she always asked if we were alright, if we had enough food... that sort of thing. She worried a lot about us. I think she wanted us to come back home, but didn't want to make us feel guilty about leaving.

"After the Grave Eclipse, I finally went back to Imil to visit her. They didn't have the same forewarning that Bilibin had-"

"Hmm?"

"Well, Lady McCoy knew it was coming, so she probably had everyone prepare, right? You probably kept everything fully lit so no shadow monsters appeared or anything."

"Mhm."

"Yeah, so," Rief continued, "Imil naturally didn't have that. If Mom hadn't been there, it could've been catastrophic, but she managed to pretty much fight off everything on her own, incredibly enough. It's just the sort of thing she'd do. It also reinforced my opinion of her as an unstoppable heroine, so when Felix showed up and took her away, like, a day later..."

He paused for effect. Maddie made no comment, and he couldn't see her expression, so he continued.

"...I didn't think anything of it. It was a little more complicated than that, I guess, and leaving her was probably the only option, but I was just so _careless_ about it. I took it for granted that she'd come back safely, and... and she didn't. Felix took her, and I imagined that she'd just get up, fight off an army, turn Felix back to the light side, and be back in time for dinner. It feels like if I had been a little more aware, I might have looked for a way to save her. But I didn't even try, and now it's too late.

"So Tyrell was right. I didn't even care, and I wouldn't even accept that anything had gone wrong. Now Mom's gone over to the baddies, which means... I guess I might have to fight her. And I know I'll lose if I try. Or the other adults will handle it, which means that she dies. There's no way to win. Could try talking to her about it, but if she's gone crazy, then... Maddie? You still listening?"

"Mhm."

"...You're allowed to talk. I never said you couldn't-"

"Ugh! I know, but I just had to stop myself from talking, because I kept wanting to jump in and comment, and then it always turns into a thing about myself, but it's not about me right now, it's about you! You don't need to be worried, I'm sure your mom was fine, she probably really cared about you and all that, but she lived, right? And I'm sure you'll get a chance to make it up to her when this is all over!"

"Yeah..." Rief muttered. "Assuming we all make it out okay. Which is a pretty big assumption."

There was a long silence.

Maddie crawled across the alleyway to sit beside Rief, cautiously putting her hand on his knee. He didn't brush it off, only stared at it for a little while. She meant well, but her pointless optimism was starting to get a little grating. The chances that both Rief and Mia would come out of this alive were... slim. Slim if he let himself get involved, and he HAD to get involved. He had to make it up to her.

"Like I said," Maddie continued unimpeded, "you should try talking, at least. Figure out what went wrong. Explain how you feel, and how sorry you are. Maybe she'll take pity on you and you won't have to fight! You have a mother who loves you, and that won't change, even if she's a little crazy right now."

Rief gave an ironic grin. "Everyone who loves me is crazy, apparently. I wonder how that reflects on me?"

Maddie's hand slipped off of Rief's knee.

His expression fell. "...I'm sorry, that's not what I meant," he said.

"No, it's alright, it was a joke. I get it." But she sighed loudly before continuing. "I envy you, is all. Like I said... you still have a mother who loves you. I don't. So do me a favor and keep her alive, okay? And keep yourself alive, too."

"Will do."

Rief got to his feet and extended a hand. Maddie took it gratefully and pulled herself up.

"I'm gonna head back with the others now," he said. "Thanks for all of your help tonight, but you should really head home. It'd be dangerous to stick around with me any longer. I'll come by when everything's been sorted out, alright?"

"Promise?"

"I promise."

She reached up and gave him a quick peck on the cheek that sent butterflies fluttering about inside him. It was a simple, unexpected gesture that just wiped away all the remaining tension within him. It was funny how so little could change so much – all it took was a chat, and she had brought him completely out of the funk he was in. Maybe there was hope yet. Maybe Mia could be saved.

With renewed vigor, Rief grinned and started back toward the palace.

"See you around!" he called happily. She smiled back, and began her trip in the opposite direction.

* * *

The best part about being queen – well, Lady – of Bilibin was that Caudgel had been given free reign to add secret passageways and shortcuts wherever she wished to the palace's blueprints. Having used one such shortcut to avoid the angry mob just outside the front gates, she was now planning her escape from the city.

So Bilibin was a bust. Big whoop! With any luck, the Warriors of Vale were crippled as a team now, and Tuaparang would be ready to invade at a moment's notice. The only nations in Angara with any military potential left were Morgal, Kalay, and Bilibin itself. The first two only had might in their Adept strength, which Tuaparang could easily nullify, and the third was rapidly tiring in a pointless war.

Funny how just the previous day, the reports from the frontlines had worried Caudgel. Her troops were fighting an invisible enemy with magical talents no one had ever seen. But they weren't her troops anymore. Now that Bilibin stood no chance of siding with Tuaparang, they were just another obstacle, and if you can't make 'em join you, you should just beat 'em. _Thanks, beastmen,_ she thought, _you've really saved me a lot of trouble. If you'd just roll over and die after this, life would be just peachy._

What she had to do now was find a good open space to call for backup. An airship would be dispatched immediately, and she'd be safe in the air within the hour. There was a dropoff point near Bilibin, in fact, that the Tuaparang military had previously arranged. It was often used for deliveries, especially when it came to preparing Bilibin's army for war with Morgal.

In fact, it was entirely possible that an airship would be in or near that location already.

Caudgel made a beeline for the dropoff point, fervently hoping that her luck would hold out.

* * *

Karis had no idea where Mia had gone.

It was all well and good announcing that she was going to go after the legendary Adept, but... there wasn't exactly a trail to follow. Maybe on a bright and sunny day over muddy ground, but it was dark, it was a city, and Karis had never been much of a tracker. She didn't even know her way around.

She climbed up a few boxes to reach the roof of a shop, hoping that the greater height would provide some advantage. Maybe she'd be able to pick something out-

Wait, what was that? Movement, a street over. A figure clad in darkness, glancing back every so often as if trying not to be followed. That was odd. Most of the townsfolk were probably either asleep or... well, rioting at the palace gates. Who was this, and why were they acting so suspiciously?

Karis hopped down and carefully approached for a better look.

* * *

"_I won't hold back,"_ he had said. _"Past be damned."_

Didn't he realize that change was the way of all things?

Mia paced angrily and impatiently next to the airship she and Felix had arrived in. She had practically carved out a path in the grass, tramping it down further and further as she walked. Eventually she used it as a guideline, trying to stomp it all and grind it into the dirt out of spite. Stupid grass. Stupid everything. Stupid world, always going against her.

If she knew how to fly the ship, she'd have gone straight back to Tuaparang with Karst in tow. She'd have made a great gift for the Empyror, and maybe he'd have forgiven Mia for running off like that. Well, okay, she didn't run off, per se... but maybe it would have shown that she had wanted to go back, and...

Ugh, such rubbish! Why didn't anyone want to come with her? How had it turned into such a big confrontation? Isaac was her best friend! Why had he threatened to kill her?

And why the hell was it taking Felix so long to get back here and fly the damn plane?

Mia kicked a dandelion far enough away that she didn't see it hit the ground. She had meant well, of course! Sveta would already be dead if Mia hadn't done what needed to be done. And Jenna was the biggest bitch in the world. She deserved to be shoved once in a while. Maybe if Mia had shoved Jenna that night four years ago, then she would've backed off, and Isaac would've remained happy, and none of this would ever have happened.

A girl could dream.

Peeking inside the open doorway for a moment, Mia made sure that Karst was still asleep. She was, of course; those sleeping spells tended to last for a good long time if the recipient wasn't disturbed. Mia didn't know what Felix saw in that damn Proxian, anyway. All Karst ever did was shout and hold grudges. What a hypocrite! If anything, Mia, Isaac, Garet and Ivan should've held a grudge after Karst nearly killed them all at Jupiter Lighthouse.

Hmm. There was a thought.

Mia stopped pacing for a moment and wandered inside the airship. She stopped at Karst's head, and considered her options.

Wouldn't it be so much easier on everyone if Karst just... stopped living? The daft woman made death threats so often that it seemed inevitable for her to eventually follow through on one. Really, killing her now would probably save lives. Felix would be sad, sure, but he'd move on eventually. And Karst was likely a massive drain on Tuaparang's resources, what with how the Empyror's scientists were working so hard to cure her disability.

It would be so simple to just finish it all. A quick smother, or a slash across the neck, maybe. She wouldn't even feel it! The old Mia probably would have expressed some concern over casually ending a life, but Karst was an invalid! She was always whining about her useless legs. Killing her would free her from her misery! It was the best thing for everyone, really.

Mia smiled peacefully. _Screw what everyone else thinks, I'm a force for good,_ she thought to herself. She then proceeded to search the cabin for a sharp enough object to sever Karst's jugular vein.

A twig snapping outside interrupted Mia's search.

* * *

Caudgel grinned. Perfect! There was an airship in perfect condition, parked exactly in the middle of the clearing, just as she had hoped. An easy escape lay ahead. It seemed a little strange that there weren't any Tuaparang warriors around, or in fact anyone at all who could have been in charge of the vessel. But Caudgel was not one to take such a gift for granted. She ran gleefully toward the open passenger door.

She nearly tripped over herself when a head wreathed in blue poked outside.

"Hello!" the new face asked. "Who might you be?"

Caudgel froze like a scared deer. That face, and that hair... it was familiar. Too familiar. It was another one of _them,_ dammit, and she was right there, right on the path to freedom! Mia, it looked like. One of the Warriors of Vale, Mercury-aligned. She specialized in healing psynergy, but could easily hold her own with magic in combat.

"Uh... hello!" Caudgel answered hesitantly. Best to appear friendly. Now, the Warriors of Vale would be on the lookout for Lady McCoy, so... "My name's Caudgel. I don't believe we've met."

She crossed her fingers behind her back. Just in case, it would be best to be prepared. Her knife was in the front of her robes, as it always was. She still had some spark shuriken up her sleeves, but not many; those would have to be used wisely. She rubbed her neck quickly, checking to make sure the protective choker was still there; it was, of course, and it had no reason not to be.

Now what knowledge did she have that she could use against Mia? Well, Mia's children had left with Kraden at an early age, so that could be twisted into some manner of guilt attack... and the older of the two had actually fallen for Mia's associate, had she not? Nowell and Piers! That was definitely useable.

Caudgel's heart stopped as Mia gave a knowing grin.

"Hold on," the blue-haired woman said. "I know exactly who you are. You're Lady McCoy, the last of the generals of the Tuaparang. No one else would be out here this late at night. I can't read your vitals either, which means you have a device on you that drains psynergy. Only Tuaparang has that technology."

So it was to be a hostile encounter, then... regrettable. She had almost made it out unscathed.

"Mia," Caudgel began with an evil smile, "Tell me about your husband. What do you think of his-"

"This is perfect! Now you can take me back to The High Empyror!" Mia cried.

The sound of crickets filled the evening air.

"Bwuh?" Caudgel asked.

"You know how to fly this thing, right?" Mia asked. "Because I don't. Felix took Karst and I here, and I kind of want to go back now. You're going anyway, right? I'd really appreciate it if you took me along."

"...Bwuh?" Caudgel repeated.

Mia sighed. "I met His Highness, and we got along great. He convinced me that you guys are in the right. Felix apparently changed his mind somewhere along the way and kidnapped me. Now I'm free, and you've come along just in time to give me a ride back!"

Mia's smile, almost sickeningly wide, was completely at odds with the tension that filled the air. Caudgel had no idea how to react. Maybe it was a trap, or... or a ploy to get her guard down. This just sounded too good to be true, and that was always a warning sign. She couldn't go through with it. It was a terrible idea.

"Oh," Caudgel said. "Well then I guess we'd better get going."

Laziness prevailed.

"Great! Oh, but before we go, I guess I just gotta finish something. Wait right here," Mia said.

Caudgel hurried up to the doorway. "What is it? Will it take long?"

Mia shook her head and gestured at the sleeping Karst lying across several seats.

"Well, I was kind of planning to _end_ this crazy little demon-woman," Mia spat. "She isn't doing any harm now, but when she wakes up we'll never hear the end of it."

Caudgel stuck her tongue out in disgust. "Ugh, Karst. I despise her."

"I know, right! Massive stick-in-the-mud! Never shuts up about revenge!"

"Worst temper on her, too!"

"_I know!"_

"Look, I have a knife right here and everything. We can just-"

"Oh, fantastic! I didn't have anything sharp on me either, this'll save so much time!"

"Is that what you were doing before I showed up?"

"Yeah, geez, you'd think this kind of ship would have an emergency medical kit with, like, a scalpel or something-"

"Mia! DON'T LISTEN TO HER!"

Caudgel and Mia stopped mid-conversation as they turned to look at the third woman that stood just outside the airship. The onboard lights made her determined expression plainly visible, her green hair just a little bit out-of-place, but the rapier in her hand extended and at the ready.

"She's Tuaparang!" Karis cried. "You heard her just now! She admitted it! She'll kill you the first chance she gets!"

"Oh, hey, Karis," Mia said. "Are you coming too?"

Caudgel suppressed a snicker. This was _far_ more fun than it had any right to be.

"Oh, my dear Karis," Caudgel said, "This has all been such a tragic misunderstanding. You think I'm out to hurt you, and hurt the people you love, is that it?"

"Well... yeah!" the girl responded. "You're here, which means my dad and his friends failed to finish you off. For all I know, they could be dead! All you people ever do is kill and mislead-"

"Ivan is alive. That much I can guarantee," the Lady spoke. "He is quite unharmed, and I can take you to him when I complete my chore here. But for now, Mia wishes to be taken to Tuaparang, and... well, she was here first."

Karis pointed her rapier at the general. "You're lying!"

"I am not. I wish I could prove it to you, but..." Caudgel gave a pitiful frown. "You didn't inherit your father's Mind Read ability, did you? Oh, you poor dear..."

"Don't mock me!"

"I'm not mocking you. It's terrible. You live up to your father's legacy in so many ways, and yet... yet you can't follow in his footsteps. It's a cruel trick of fate."

Karis bared her teeth. "Dad's happy that I don't have his curse! People always hated and feared him for it, he told me himself!"

"But dear-" Caudgel stepped forward, and Karis tensed, extending her rapier threateningly. Caudgel shook her head and gently pointed the blade aside. "Dear. The ability to read minds is not a curse. It is a gift, and it is a gift your father dearly wishes he could give to you. He tells you it is a curse to protect your feelings, but inside-"

"_Shut up!_"

"Inside," Caudgel continued, "he knows that if he could do it for you, he would in an instant. He would give you his gift and never look back. It's like your gift of Psynergy, in fact. People hate and fear you for that, do they not? And yet it is still a gift."

"You hate Adepts!" Karis shouted. "You've tried to murder every one of us that you can find!"

"Of course not!" Caudgel said with a gasp. "That would be pure evil! You've heard that every Adept I catch is executed in the morning, right? Well, they never have the chance! I send them to Tuaparang, where they can practice their skills in secret, and teach our scientists how alchemy works.

"For in truth, young Karis, we want what you want. We want everyone in the world to have the gifts of psynergy. We have been learning how, too. You could help. And in return... we could help you."

"You expect me to believe you? You had Sveta and Matthew imprisoned!"

Caudgel narrowed her eyes in reflex, but already had a retort prepared. "Yes, because they attacked me!" she cried. "They jumped to conclusions, just as you did, and I defended myself! If I truly wanted to 'murder every one of you', then why would I have put them in prison instead of finishing them where they laid?"

Karis blinked, her sword wavering. In truth, Caudgel had wanted to make an example out of the Queen of Morgal via public execution, but Karis didn't need to know that.

"B-but..." the young girl stammered, "the Grave Eclipse. You guys caused so much damage-"

"Correction," Caudgel interrupted, "Blados and Chalis caused so much damage. They were working more-or-less on their own. Sure, the Empyror had sent them out in the first place, but they... went rogue, so to speak. The Eclipse was a deviation from the original plan, and I think you'll agree that those two deserved what they got."

Karis lowered her sword completely, too dumbfounded and confused to make a decision. She looked from Caudgel to Mia, to Karst, and then back to Caudgel. Caudgel maintained her poker face, put a hand on Mia's shoulder, and gave her a _leave-this-to-me_ look.

"Karis, we appreciate what you and your friends did for the world with our guidance. We led you along the path to activate the devices of Alchemy in hopes of improving the lives of those in Angara. If the Grave Eclipse hadn't happened, we would have sent you to the other continents, too, so you could help the people there. And eventually, we would have brought you back to our own city in the clouds, to reward you as the heroes you truly are."

Mia was beginning to look more and more impatient as the speech dragged on. She sat down across from Karst, eyeing Caudgel's knife greedily. The spy slipped it into her sleeve defensively. Karis was oblivious, of course; she was staring at the ground in a combination of shame and disbelief.

"So you were helping us all along? And we already dealt with the real villains?" Karis shivered. "I don't... I don't know about all this. I gotta go back, I gotta talk with the others about what you've said to me. It just doesn't make sense. And yet..."

"And yet you want to believe me," Caudgel finished for her. "You desperately want to think that we've all been acting for the greater good, and that it's all been a misunderstanding. And you're in luck, because we HAVE. Mia knows it, and Felix knew it, too, before he got those crazy ideas in his head. With a little help, we can all make the world a better place. With your help, specifically, we can let the others know that Tuaparang means well."

"...Dad too?"

"Of course, my dear. We will find your father, and bring him with us – completely willingly, of course – and we will study his mind reading technique. We will study it, and then we will find a way to pass it onto you."

Caudgel approached Karis, her arms outstretched. Her long, graceful strides held no hostility, no hatred, and her gaze held only love and hope.

"You can teach me to do what Dad does?" she asked. Her purple-irised eyes filled with tears. "You can't- I mean... can you? Can you really?"

Caudgel took Karis into a caring embrace. For an instant, there was a glimmer of metal in her right hand as she palmed the weapon she had hidden.

"Oh my dear, sweet Karis..." Caudgel cooed.

Her hand hovered an inch away from Karis's exposed back, her knife gleaming in the moonlight.

"_Of course not._"

Karis's gasp was cut off in an instant. Her eyes widened in shock for a half-second before they fell shut. All the strength left her limbs as she fell limp in Caudgel's arms.

Her rapier clattered to the ground.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Alternate title for this chapter: "Chapter Dialog", or "Everyone just shut up, please shut up for a second." Trust me, I thought long and hard about how to make it a little more action-packed, but these groups are having a quiet moment for now. Next chapter will have a little less conversation and a little more action._

_I don't remember getting many comments on the mysterious speech-only section back in Chapter 40 (now italicized for extra stand-out-ness). It's the same characters here, and it shouldn't be too hard to guess who they are if you read between the lines. Their conversation is happening more-or-less at the time it shows up in the story._

_...Finally, can you guys do me a favor? Pretty please? There's this brilliant little GS fic on the site known as Seekers. It has a tragically low number of reviews. It is also brilliantly done, and I suspect that one of the main reasons it has so few readers is because it sort of looks like an OC fic when you read the first chapter (it isn't, they're canon characters with pseudonyms). So I ask you, check that fic out, GIVE IT A FAIR CHANCE, and maybe leave a review or something! It deserves some friggin' recognition._


	51. No Mercy

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"Waitwaitwait... what?"

Sveta folded her arms stubbornly.

"Let us change the subject, please," she demanded. "Anything else. But I was perfectly happy with pretending Karis did not exist."

Matthew didn't know what to say.

For one thing, Karis had been his friend since childhood. He couldn't remember a time when the two of them – and Tyrell, of course – had been anything less than inseparable. Matthew felt that it was incredibly insensitive of Sveta to speak so harshly of her, even considering their recent troubles.

But even more importantly, _Sveta and Karis_ had become fast friends over the course of their travels. As Jupiter Adepts, they had naturally bonded quickly. But they shared many interests as well; on the nights the group spent in the wild, the two would always share a tent, and they would often stay up chatting long after the sun had set. After the fall of Belinsk, and Volechek's apparent death, no one helped Sveta through the grief more than Karis did. Matthew himself hadn't even been able to find the right words to say during that experience.

"Sveta, look, you're allowed to hate anybody you want, but Karis is our friend-"

"Do you know? I think Ivan is still in the other room," the beastwoman interrupted. She wore the fakest of fake smiles over a venomous glare. "I would prefer to speak to him right now, I believe."

"Sveta, _wait-_"

Matthew then made the mistake of grabbing the girl's shoulder as she turned to leave.

With the slightest movement, she gripped the offending wrist, turned, and bent his whole arm sharply and painfully in the wrong direction. She stopped before causing any serious damage, but her intentions were clear. She moved up against him and held her face right next to his.

"Let us get one thing straight," she hissed. "I care for you as you do for me. I want this relationship to work. I do not intend for it to be abusive in any way. But if you keep pushing and pushing, trying to remind me of my time in that _godsdamned cell,_ I will fight back. Because when I think about that torture, it hurts me all over again. The very MEMORY of that event causes pain. So if you talk about it, you hurt me, and if you hurt me, then with the gods as my witnesses, I will hurt you."

Matthew struggled against her, but to no avail. She was without match in hand-to-hand combat. It hurt, but at the same time, he could see the pain in her eyes. She looked insulted and betrayed, yet desperate and threatened. Her reaction had been defensive.

She eased her grip ever-so-slightly as tears began to form. She blinked them away and released Matthew's wrist entirely. He rubbed it with his other hand as Sveta took several steps toward the hole leading to the other room.

Then she paused. She took a deep, ragged breath, and then spoke quietly enough that Matthew had to strain to hear her.

"You asked why I did not list Karis among my friends," she muttered. "It is because she did it. By her own hands, she did it. She knowingly, intentionally put me through all that horror though I begged her to stop. _She laughed as I bled_. And all because of jealousy."

Matthew couldn't believe what he was hearing.

Sveta started toward the hole again. Her voice was empty and emotionless. "There is nothing human in that shell, Matthew. No moral being can do that to another living thing and just walk away as she did."

And as he silently followed after, unable to come up with a coherent response, he heard her utter one final curse.

"I wish she was dead."

* * *

Jenna only witnessed the end of it, but she already felt that she had seen enough.

Felix was on the ground, unconscious from the force of Garet's blow. Garet looked to be on his last legs, though he was physically almost uninjured. As he staggered to finish the other man off, Garet had a look of crazed victory on his face. He was practically foaming at the mouth. He raised a heavy boot over Felix's head.

"...Finally... won..." Garet growled.

Jenna hesitated for only a moment.

The gout of flame that burst forth from her hands struck Garet full in the chest, only a fraction of a second before he could curb-stomp Jenna's helpless brother.

It wasn't a particularly powerful burst, and as a Mars Adept, Garet was already resistant to it. But the surprise attack from his childhood friend sapped his momentum, and he had already passed out from exhaustion by the time he hit the floor. Some lingering embers clung to his clothing, but there was no lasting damage.

Jenna dashed to check Felix's vitals once she was sure Garet wasn't getting back up. When she finally felt a pulse, she rolled her brother over onto his back to check for damage. He was covered in dust and debris from being thrown through several walls. He had some minor scrapes and scratches all over, and a few nasty-looking red marks that looked like they would become bruises soon enough. The only thing that looked like a major concern was the broken arm, and Jenna knew from experience that a Mercury Adept could heal that with little trouble.

Even so, once she was certain her brother would live, Jenna allowed herself the luxury of breaking down with emotion. She let all of the tension and fear roll out of her, sobbing and cradling Felix's unconscious body. Thirty years... thirty years since they had last seen each other, thirty years that he'd apparently been in the thrall of a genocidal maniac, thirty years that she hadn't even known that he was alive... and in the space of an evening, she almost lost him again. The grief would have torn her apart.

On another day, she might have felt something about needing to deal with Garet in the manner that she did. After all, he'd been one of her closest friends for most of her life. But she knew from past experience that he couldn't be reasoned with when he got into that state, and after what Isaac had just done... well, she wasn't in the mood.

"Jenna, is everything alright?"

Speak of the devil.

Jenna didn't even grant Isaac the dignity of a passing glance. "Felix is still alive, no thanks to Garet. I'm taking him to Rief. He needs medical attention right away."

If the tension in the air hadn't been so thick, the image of the smallish redhead picking up her massive older brother would have been comical. But Jenna carried Felix with deadly determination, coldly walking right past Isaac in a way that implied she would have gone THROUGH him if she needed to.

"Grab your friend, if you like," she said, gesturing absentmindedly toward Garet. "I'm not taking responsibility for the guy who would have killed my brother if I'd arrived even a minute later."

"Jenna, Garet's OUR friend, and he's been through a lot-"

"Doesn't excuse him if his foot goes through my brother's head. Grab him if you want, but you're dealing with him. I've always been a firm believer that _loyalty to your family_ comes first."

Isaac cursed under his breath as Jenna strode away. He picked up Garet in a hasty fireman's carry, and then hurried to keep pace with his estranged wife.

"Jenna, I'm sorry that all this has happened, but-"

"Weren't you supposed to be telling our son all about how you ruined our marriage?"

"That's not-"

"But I guess you had to act as if you still cared one bit about me, didn't you?"

"I said I-"

"You should become an actor. That stuff down in the prison really proved it to me, how you acted like you were going to defend me from that evil ex of yours when all you wanted to do was jump her bones-"

"Will you let me finish _one godsdamned sentence please!_"

If Jenna was at all intimidated by Isaac's outburst, she didn't show it. She did, however, stop in her tracks and incline her head toward him. His face was beginning to deepen in hue, which amused her in a small, twisted way. Her amusement didn't show through her hate-filled scowl.

"You have ten seconds."

"What, I have a time limit now-"

"Seven. Six."

And then Isaac lost it.

"Jenna, why are you trying so hard to convince yourself I've turned against you? We can still salvage this. Or do you not WANT to salvage this? Is that it?"

Her eyes narrowed to thin slits and her nose scrunched up in disgust. "...What are you trying to say?" she asked.

"I'm trying to say that maybe you're projecting. Maybe the reason you keep giving me these baseless accusations of adultery is because you got a little lonely these past four years-"

With a fierce, wordless growl, Jenna nearly launched herself at Isaac. Realizing that she was still cradling her fallen sibling, however, she caught herself. She tried her very best to cool her head. She really did.

But Jenna had always been a passionate woman. She set Felix down carefully against a wall in case she found she just couldn't help herself.

"How dare you?" she screamed. "How do you even have the gall to accuse ME of cheating on YOU? I loved our family, and I devoted myself endlessly to its well-being before you went and ruined it-"

"And so did I, but apparently that's not enough!" Isaac countered. "Even though I single-handedly raised our son from the age of thirteen onward, I apparently haven't made enough contributions to the 'family unit.' I even organized the whole trip that got us here in the first place in an attempt to make amends! Of course, this was right after the fight we had back in Kalay, where, if I remember correctly, Garet went back to your house to comfort you. He lost his wife, you threw out your husband, and you've certainly been friends for a while-"

"You _SLIMY SCUMBAG-!"_

Jenna drew her sword and held it at the ready as Isaac tossed Garet unceremoniously to the side. His own weapon remained in its sheath.

"I shouldn't be so surprised that you took Felix's side against him, anyway," Isaac spat. "You threw ME out easily enough."

It was all she could do to keep herself from running him through, right then. Every part of her mind screamed for his traitorous blood at that moment, but for one; somewhere, far at the edges of her consciousness, a voice cried out, telling her that what she was doing was wrong. It told her to rethink what she was doing. A memory flashed by, a thought of the pair of them sitting alone and happy on a hillside, married only a week before, dreaming of what the future would hold for the two of them-

She hissed out loud in frustration at her self-contradiction.

"I never cheated on you, Isaac," she said. "I loved you with every fibre of my being ever since... since you were there for me when my parents died!"

"What, a few weeks ago when Lady McCoy took out all of Vault?"

"_Fuck you!_"

Isaac's reflexive step backward saved his life as Jenna slashed her light blade right through the air that his torso had occupied a second before. His undershirt found itself with a thin slice through the front of it, and a line of blood came to the surface of his skin through the scratch beneath.

She watched him run a finger along the cut, blink in surprise at the blood, and then furrow his brow in thought. He unstrapped his greatsword from his back, dropped it to the ground, and threw his hands out to his sides, daring her to strike again.

Realizing how close she had come to killing him, she sheathed her sword. She spent a little bit of her pent-up fury punching a hole in the nearest wall instead.

"I'm trying my best, Isaac! Stop provoking me! I want to forgive you, but it's so very, _very_ hard when you're doing such a great job of making me hate you!"

Isaac took on an eerie calm. He folded his arms directly below the cut across his chest, which helped emphasize the irreversible mistake Jenna had nearly made. His expression was completely neutral, blank as stone. His eyes seemed to pierce her very soul.

"Alright then. Carry on as you were."

Panting from an exhaustion that was far from physical, Jenna stopped to collect her thoughts. Her eyes met his. She didn't know whether to take it as a challenge, or...

"When... when I THOUGHT I had lost my whole family..." she continued, "back in Vale, beneath the Aleph Boulder... you and Garet were both there for me. I was suddenly, in the space of a night, an orphan. Even my older brother was gone. And... and you two felt responsible..."

Isaac nodded. "That was when we started practicing psynergy in earnest. We both felt that if we had had some more control over our powers, we could've helped stop the boulder. Garet even got the fool idea into his head that he could learn Venus psynergy if he tried hard enough... I still don't know how he managed to teach himself Move."

Jenna let herself sink deeper into her memories. Her anger evaporated as she drifted back to simpler times. Not necessarily happier times, not with the apparent loss of everyone that had ever been important to her... but still certainly simpler. She felt her eyes begin to water.

"You and Garet... you became my best friends after that. And you especially, because you lost someone in that tragedy, too. I lived with my grandparents, officially, but you and Dora filled in as my family. We all knew the pain of loss, and we all helped each other to work through it. You were the boy next door, the shoulder I could cry on, and... a strong, silent type. And I was thirteen years old myself, at that point. It was inevitable. I had a crush."

"And I, being a fourteen-year-old otherwise distracted by psynergy studies well beyond the scope of what most would consider reasonable, was completely oblivious."

A sound escaped from Jenna's throat, a strange mix of a giggle and a sob. "Yeah," she said, "you had no idea. And I loved a challenge. So the crush grew and grew... right up until you had the opportunity to be a knight in shining armor for me."

Isaac smiled sadly. His posture visibly relaxed, and he approached Jenna slowly and carefully.

"When you decided you were tired of waiting," he said, "I really never stood a chance. I remember you coming back from Vault, after helping rebuild it for so long, and you basically went straight to where I was living and asked me out on a date. That was all it took, and I remember thinking, 'How the hell could I have let this slip by for so long?' I was in love, too. Maybe I was all along and I never realized it."

"...So then why did you date Mia?" Jenna asked, wiping the unbidden tears away. "If you really loved me, how could you have done... well, all those things you did?"

"I was seventeen. I had no idea what it felt like to be in love. I thought that you and I were just the closest of friends, and that my relationship with Mia was deeper than that. But I guess it was just the opposite, and Mia and I realized that we didn't feel a hint of romance just a little before going up Jupiter Lighthouse."

"...And the second time?"

"We thought maybe we had made a mistake," Isaac explained, "and that now that we were rational adults, we could finally have a real relationship. It was about as shallow as the first time."

Jenna squeezed her hands into fists. She stared intently at her feet, wishing desperately that she didn't have to ask her next question.

"And..." she stammered, "what about the third time?"

A pregnant pause filled the room.

Jenna felt her emotions flare up again, and then settle. She no longer felt angry. She just felt weak, and confused, and... and she felt like everyone in the world was taking advantage of her.

"Jenna."

His voice took her by surprise, coming from directly in front of her as it did. With one hand, he grasped hers, squeezing it comfortably. With the other, he raised her chin until their eyes met once more.

"I don't believe the third time actually happened," he said, "and that's what I came here to talk to you about."

Jenna's fury snapped back with a vengeance.

"Oh, I see what's going on here," she said as she yanked her hand back. "You were trying to toy with my emotions so you could convince me to forget about it again. Nice try, really. But we both heard the truth, that all it took was a little push-"

"Jenna, I believed her too at first. But I need you to hear yourself explain it." Isaac spoke quickly and smoothly, making his points before Jenna lost control of herself again. "So tell me, in your own words, why you're so convinced that it was 'just a little push.'"

She watched him carefully for any sign of a bluff. He seemed honest... but then again, when didn't he? She had thought that she could read him like a book after all their years of marriage, but...

Fine. She'd take the bait. "I know that you still love Mia because we had it confirmed by an outside source, one who actually had reliable information about what happened that night."

"A villain."

Jenna blinked. "...What?"

"Our outside source," Isaac clarified, "was a villain. An admitted one. She was a warrior trained to kill us by a man who sees us as the only obstacle on his way to world domination. She was outnumbered and outmatched, and she couldn't possibly have taken all of us on in a fight, but... well, Felix DID warn us that she had a silver tongue."

Jenna gasped. "So she took the information that she DID have about us, twisted it to her own ends, and manipulated us so that we'd fight amongst ourselves..."

Isaac smiled weakly, and nodded. "After all, who better to defeat a Warrior of Vale..."

He drew his fingers across the wound on his chest and then held them out toward her, showing her that they were stained with sticky blood.

"...Than another Warrior of Vale?"

Jenna cried out in fury once again – this time, however, it was not at anything her husband had done.

"That... that colossal _bitch!_" she screamed. "She played us... she played _me_ like a fiddle! I'm so, so sorry, Isaac, I never should have-"

"It's okay, Jenna!" he replied. "I believed her too. In fact, Sveta's the one who explained it to me. She made me look like a complete fool, but I think it was worth it in the end."

"Sveta did? Well, I guess we owe her one, then," Jenna said, as she bent down to pick up her brother once more.

Isaac similarly slung Garet back over his shoulder. "I think our debts are squared pretty evenly, actually," he joked. "After all, she's taking our son."

Jenna smiled. "We'll see. Anyway, we should probably be getting these two... and, uh, you, I guess... to a doctor. Rief's probably still parked outside, right?"

Isaac shrugged.

"Well, the good news is that if she lied about one thing," Jenna said, "she probably lied about the others. That means Felix _wasn't_ responsible for Garet's wife's death. Hopefully we'll be able to convince him of the fact before they start fighting again."

Isaac nodded.

"Strong, silent type again, huh?" Jenna said with a laugh. "Well... I guess I can deal with that. I just... I don't want you to assume that we're right back together again. Not quite yet. But... hey, do you think Tuaparang really does have information on what happened?"

Isaac put his free hand to his chin, scratching it absentmindedly.

"Well, if the High Empyror is as obsessed with stopping us as he seems to be... then yeah, I wouldn't be surprised," he said.

"Then that's our next stop. Tuaparang." Jenna's eyes fell to her brother, still unconscious but alive in her arms. They then fell to his sword, still abandoned on the floor. That damned thing was nothing more than a symbol of pain for each and every one of them, and even if she COULD pick it up without passing out, she would leave it behind. Let some other fool find it.

"It'll be tough, but I think it'll be worth it," she continued. "We can see their mission reports with our own eyes. Maybe there'll be some other explanation in there, something to clear everything up for good..."

Isaac nodded again. "But for now, we should really check on Ivan. We left him in there with that woman alone, remember? I hope he's still okay."

"I hope so too," Jenna muttered grimly. "That Lady McCoy's caused us enough casualties already."

* * *

"NOOOO! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?"

Mia pulled Caudgel back and tossed her away heedlessly, leaving her hands free to catch Karis as she fell. Working with years of a healer's experience, she laid the girl down on her front, the gleaming knife still sticking out perpendicular to her back. Mia pulled it out quickly and threw it aside, then took a quick account of Karis's health.

The accuracy was near-perfect – just an inch to either side and it would have destroyed a major organ. As it was, several vital blood vessels had been severed. Massive internal bleeding, unconsciousness from shock, not to mention the extra damage that had come when the knife was jostled about... Karis only had seconds to live.

Luckily, with Mia nearby, that was all she needed. A moment later, Karis was back in (mostly) perfect condition. She was still out cold, and her outfit had a fresh rip and heavy bloodstains, but she would live. Mia picked Karis up, glared at Caudgel, and set the poor girl inside the airship across from Karst.

"You deranged godsdamned _psychopath!_" Mia cried. "You nearly killed her! What were you thinking? What in the world could have POSSIBLY possessed you to make you think that would ever, _ever_ be a good idea?"

Caudgel sat up slowly, still quite dizzy from being thrown several feet by an angry demigoddess. She hadn't yet gained her senses back well enough to answer.

"Karis is innocent!" Mia continued. "She has done nothing wrong to you, or to me, or to... to anyone who didn't tresspass against her first! Do you really think murdering an innocent teenage girl would be in His Highness's best interests?"

"I-"

"Of course it wouldn't!" Mia walked over and picked Caudgel up by the front of her robe. "Especially not Karis! His Highness needs powerful allies, right? Karis is a talented Adept in her own right, but what's more important is what her father brings to the table! We bring Ivan's daughter with us, and he'll follow to try and rescue her. Then Ivan gets a chance to meet the Empyror for himself. If we bring Karis's _corpse,_ on the other hand, Ivan will follow and rip the entire city in half to get revenge. Maybe literally, too. He can kick up some seriously strong winds."

Mia dropped Caudgel, letting the other woman catch herself with her own two feet. She then turned and boarded the airship, glaring at Caudgel all the while.

"I can't believe His Highness trusts a backstabbing traitor like you," Mia muttered. "You're lucky I need you to fly me to the City."

Caudgel brushed herself off and then pushed past Mia to get to the cockpit. Noticing Karst still breathing unimpeded, she chuckled to herself.

"Bit of a hypocrite, aren't you?" Caudgel asked. "You were just planning to kill this defenceless woman-"

"Karst is hardly innocent. She's tried to murder me herself on at least two separate occasions."

"Even so. I don't think you're allowed to call me a backstabber anymore, especially after Felix left her in your care."

Mia shrugged. "Felix is a traitor now, too."

Caudgel sighed and shrugged. She opened up the door to the cockpit, and-

"W-wait a second!"

Both women spun to look out the airship doorway.

A young woman stood outside, clad in a simple green dress. Her long, brown hair looked rather frazzled – unsurprising, considering what she had probably just witnessed – and her eyes were wide with panic and excitement.

Mia thought she looked _very_ familiar.

"Oh, what now?" Caudgel groaned.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Apologies to everybody who read Chapter 50 before August 26th, 2011. See, when I originally wrote the chapter, I decided to sit down until I finished it, which meant I stayed up until 5am writing it. By the end, I just sort of went, "screw it, I'm done." And that meant that the section leading up to Karis' betrayal was really, really half-assed. I've fixed it up to hopefully seem more believable – when you have an intelligent character like Karis, it's hard to give them the runaround without giving the audience the runaround, too. If you don't feel like re-reading it, you shouldn't feel obliged to. If you DO re-read it (or read it for the first time) and still find it lacking, tell me, because I don't want it to feel forced._

_Side note, my biggest distraction outside of writing left me recently – it's kind of depressing, but it means I'll have more free evenings, and if I dedicate my time I should be able to burn through this story rather quickly. I'm tentatively planning to put out a chapter every 3 days until we hit the end. That means you can expect the next chapter late Sept 12 or early Sept 13. It's a snail's pace compared to how I started, but leagues ahead of what I've been doing recently. I'll adjust the update schedule as needs require._

_Also, none of you reviewed Seekers. Shame on you! It's a good story, and I want to read more, and reviews are a good way to motivate people to write. -_-_

_Speaking of which... review responses! I'm trying to get in the habit of doing fewer responses, because otherwise I end up writing an extra 10 paragraphs that the chapter doesn't need. If I don't get to your review, then I apologize! It isn't intended to be an insult. It's just that this section originally started as a way to answer questions posed by people with PMs disabled, and it grew into a catch-all comment-on-everything event. It was bigger than it needed to be. If you've got a question, I'll answer it here, but I'll try to hold back otherwise._

_barefootbean: Heck yeah sequels! I'm gonna write two stories in the same universe, and keep them going simultaneously. First one is "Means to an End," following the third generation of Warriors (OC heavy, but hopefully people won't mind too much). It'll be a similar format to DoJ, but probably/hopefully a lot shorter. Second one is "Chronicles of the Wardens," following the surviving Warriors of Vale and taking place about 500 years after the Golden Sun. It'll be episodic – maybe 5-10 chapters per arc – and the setting will be essentially modern, with a lot more political intrigue and a darker feel._

_Meat Wisdom: Thank you so much for the TVTropes shoutout! It makes me feel all tingly inside._

_And about the Empyror's manipulation, it isn't completely based in psynergy. It's habit-forming. If Mia had been zapped with the Masher within a few minutes of the spell being cast, she probably would've walked away unscathed, but she spent enough time under its influence that it made an impact on her psyche. It's like teaching a dog to do tricks by rewarding it with food, except the tricks are murder and the food is pure happiness. Both Mia and Felix have come to associate victory-at-all-costs (and making the Empyror happy) with emotional stimulation. You can see it coming back into play with Felix in Chapter 50, for example._

_I should probably have tried harder to explain that in the context of the story, actually. Might get a chance to elaborate later on._

_Lumino: A whole bunch of awesome stuff in review form, thanks a lot! Don't worry, DoJ won't die before its time unless I do. And thanks for pointing out my unfortunate tendency to do fakeout deaths. I'm gonna work on that – I've been pussying out of ACTUALLY killing/incapacitating people for a while. Karis, above, was actually just going to be "asleep all along" in the original draft. Ugh! So much more realistic this way. So much less of a cheap trick._

_It's funny how different people react to the fluffy, sappy parts. Some people hate them, some people (like me) just want to do the Happy Spongebob Face at the very thought of it. Glad you like it, though, there'll be more where that came from._

_(Lumino's writing a MatthewxSveta fic of his own, by the way. It's called Don't Cry, and he updates so frequently that you'll find it, more likely than not, at the top of the Golden Sun story list on . Go read and review!)_


	52. Dreamscape

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

She had meant to go home like she said she would. Really. Honestly.

But on the way, Maddie happened to notice a familiar face sneaking along in pursuit of a shadowy figure. Karis, daughter of Ivan, was on the hunt? This could be history in the making! Certainly not something that an enthusiast like Madeline of Bilibin could pass up for a little bit of sleep and safety! And she certainly couldn't ruin it by letting Karis know she was following.

She did her best to watch her own back to make sure she hadn't ironically started a stealth conga line.

When they arrived at the airship, Maddie hid in a bush and watched Karis' confrontation. She saw the whole thing, heard Lady McCoy's assertions, and... suppressed a gasp of terror when Karis was stabbed.

For a minute, she was frozen, unable to make a decision. She knew she could run out, grab Karis, and maybe bring her back to Rief... but with McCoy and Mia watching, she wouldn't accomplish anything short of getting herself killed. Likewise, she could run out and try to convince Mia to do something, but without any assurance that she was redeemable, it would be suicide.

Luckily, Mia moved immediately. Maddie couldn't see well enough from her hiding spot to see if Karis had actually been healed, but she trusted the Angel of Imil well enough to believe that if she said someone would live, then they would live. And as an added bonus, the fact that Mia went to work on Karis against her companion's wishes might have meant that she was not yet beyond redemption.

A chilling thought occurred to her as she watched Mia bring Karis into the airship, however. If Lady McCoy was as evil as everyone kept saying she was, and if she was working for this evil organization that had originally brainwashed Mia, when... well, she might not take kindly to being thrown aside. In fact, if she was as crafty as she seemed, she might already be plotting revenge. And Mia was going on a trip with her, alone but for two sleeping prisoners.

Maddie had promised Rief that he would get a chance to save his mother. If she died en route to Tuaparang, or shortly thereafter, he'd never have the opportunity. She knew what it was like to lose a parent – both parents, in fact – and if she could avert that tragedy for another, especially one as important to her as Rief, then she would do it in a second.

As she stepped out from behind her hiding spot, Maddie spared a thought for her parents. If her information was accurate, they had both been killed, albeit indirectly, by the same woman who had just plunged a knife into Karis' back. Maddie loved her parents very much, and while her beloved stories had taught her long ago of the folly of revenge, she still felt it couldn't hurt to hurry along their killer's karmic retribution.

Ironically, Maddie realized that she might not technically be an orphan yet. Her biological mother might still be out there. But the woman who had raised her with the help of her biological father was still nearer and dearer than the old bat who ran away after her birth, so Maddie could not have cared less. It was time to move on, anyway. Start a new family. Maybe with Rief, if she could convince him. Which she knew she could.

As she hurried toward an uncertain fate, she planned a plan as quickly as she was able.

* * *

And so she stood before them, a 17-year-old commoner with a terrified-but-enthusiastic expression on her face, staring down one woman who had just tried to murder someone in cold blood, and another who could literally freeze her with a thought.

The fact that Maddie could still stand with her knees so turned to jelly really said something about her willpower.

Lady McCoy looked at Mia. Mia looked at Lady McCoy.

"Who's this brat?" Lady McCoy asked.

Mia shrugged.

"Uh, hi!" the girl asked. "I, uh, I mean... M-my Lady, I humbly request that you-"

Mia snapped her fingers, a smug smile gracing her features. "Aha! I know you! You're the girl who's got a thing for my son. Uh, Maggie, right?"

"M-Maddie."

"Right." Mia turned to Lady McCoy. "Yeah, she's harmless."

Lady McCoy shrugged.

Maddie cleared her throat, blushing furiously under the gaze of the opposition. It felt like she was standing naked in front of a massive crowd, not just trying to gain the approval of two women. They were watching her, scrutinizing her, judging her. Any misstep could-

No. Don't think that way. What would the Warriors of Vale do? Aside from being kidnapped and mind-controlled of course-

No. Don't think that way either.

"My Lady," Maddie began again, with some imagined confidence, "I humbly request that you allow me to join the two of you on your excursion."

The two older women stared at her blankly.

Lady McCoy raised an eyebrow. "And why should we do that?"

Maddie's confidence level fell several notches. She pushed the growing fear back and carried on. "Uh, because... because I'm useful to you. And because I just saw something I wasn't supposed to see."

Lady McCoy sighed and walked down the airship ramp. Mia put a hand on her shoulder before she finished exiting.

"You aren't allowed to kill this one either," she said. "She's sweet on my son, and trust me, that boy _seriously_ needs to get laid."

Maddie agreed but made no indication thereof.

Visibly suppressing a shudder at Mia's comment, Lady McCoy stepped onto the grass. She gave Maddie a grudging once-over, and then sighed loudly.

"So why in the gods' names, dear girl, would you ever, EVER be useful to me? Answer well, because you are now coming with us one way or another, and your next words will decide whether it is as an associate or a captive."

Something in her voice set Maddie alight. Something about that harsh disapproval, that condescending tone...

"Because I can save you from your mistake," Maddie fired back. "Can we perhaps discuss this alone? No... prying ears?"

Lady McCoy raised an eyebrow again. She glanced back at Mia, who nodded.

"No murdering!" she called out. She pointed at her own eyes, then with the same fingers, pointed back at McCoy. _I'm watching you,_ those fingers said.

Maddie gestured toward the darkness and led the way.

* * *

Ivan had pulled himself together enough to sit with his back to the wall when Sveta and Matthew walked in.

He smiled weakly and waved, trying to be a little friendly to them despite the fact that he really, really just wanted to be alone with his thoughts and his worries.

"Where is Caudgel?" Sveta asked. "Did you beat her? You appear to still be breathing, which means you did not lose... right?"

Ivan shook his head. "She won, alright. She beat me pretty handily, but... I guess she placed survival and escape over finishing me off. Not that I mind, frankly. How's everybody else?"

Matthew walked over and offered Ivan a hand up, which the older man gratefully accepted. Matthew had inherited his father's height, which meant that Ivan only came up to about his shoulder-level, but what he lacked in tallness he generally made up for in an indescribable _presence,_ a sense that he was greater than his build would indicate. Right at this point, though... he just seemed short.

"Well," Matthew said, "I don't know about Garet and Felix, but at least the palace has stopped shaking. That might be a good thing. As for Mom and Dad, I think they might actually get back together, mostly thanks to Sveta." He rubbed his wrist idly for some reason that Ivan couldn't figure.

"Did she tell you anything, Ivan? Anything that seemed off, or... heartbreaking? Emotionally affective?" Sveta asked. "Because it was most likely a lie."

Ivan shrugged. "She didn't tell my anything outright, but... she, uh, laid out some facts, and... I guess she got me to accept that there's a possibility that..." He trailed off. He didn't want to say it.

Sveta nodded empathetically. "May I?" she asked, extending a hand toward Ivan's temple.

It felt strange to be on the receiving end of a request for mind-reading permission. He paused to consider the implications, made sure his thoughts were in order, and then gave a curt nod.

Sveta closed her eyes and began to pulse slowly with psynergy. Ivan felt some faint waves going out of himself and into her, and her eyelashes flickered slightly as she absorbed the information. At once, she scowled slightly.

"I see," she said simply after she pulled away.

Matthew looked at her in askance. She didn't respond immediately, but held her hand to her chin in thought for several seconds.

"Ivan believes there is a chance Karis may not actually be his daughter," she said. "Caudgel certainly seems to love the 'adultery panic' angle, does she not? Though I admit, that story, if true, would explain several things."

"Sveta, please-" Matthew began, looking frustrated and slightly alarmed.

But Sveta just carried on. "It would explain, for example, how you can be such a good person while she remains a heartless, bloodthirsty monster."

Ivan's heart sank for a moment when she admitted that his fears might be true. But when the full meaning in her message sunk in, he didn't quite know how to react. He was used to hearing insults toward himself or his family, but they were usually never _spoken._

"Did you just call Karis a bloodthirsty monster?" he asked.

"A heartless one, yes. How else could-"

"Sveta, STOP-" Matthew shouted.

"How else could she have tortured me in that cell, Matthew?" Sveta roared. "Tell me! Give me ONE good reason! I thought she was my friend, but she kept activating those traps, again and again, until I was literally drowning in my own blood!"

Ivan didn't know what to think.

On the one hand, he didn't know Sveta very well. He wanted to be optimistic about her and say that if Matthew liked her, she must be alright, but so far, all of their previous interactions had taken place when she was near death or otherwise unable to act as she normally would. The Sveta that Ivan was speaking to, this hyperactive pity-hog, didn't seem like the kind of person one would rely on for honest information.

But... her sudden change in personality scratched at the back of his mind. She seemed helpful and happy, if a little annoyed for some reason, when she first walked in. The moment Karis came up, Sveta became cold and unforgiving. He had seen animals act that way when faced with something they associated with trauma. If Karis had actually put Sveta in the state they had found her in, for gods-knew-what reason...

Drowning in blood. Sveta had been torn apart slowly, bit by bit, at her most basic level by the psynergy traps. She would have been bleeding internally, including within her own lungs, which might actually have deprived her of oxygen eventually. And she would have felt every single tear along her skin, every split in her veins, every crack in her bones. How could Karis have missed that?

"Just hold on for a second," Ivan said in a soothing voice. It was an unfair trick to calm her down, especially considering that in doing so he was treating her more like a beast than as a human. But she wasn't thinking rationally, and it was the most effective way to get what he needed. "I understand that you've been through a lot, but this is... might be... well, we're talking about the girl I raised from infancy as my own. You're making some strong accusations, and if you wouldn't mind, I need a bit more evidence."

"Evidence!" Sveta spat. "You found me bleeding and dying on the floor, next to an empty and unlocked cell!"

Ivan shook his head. He raised a hand up toward her head, the same way as she had just a minute before. He held it in midair without touching her head, waiting for her permission.

She stared at it for several long seconds, eyes widening. "No. No, no, no..." she said. "I will not relive that. Not for a memory, not so you can prove to yourself that I might be speaking the truth!"

"Sveta, please, it's just a-"

"NO!" she cried, covering her head with her hands defensively and batting away Ivan's arm. "I am not doing it, I will not go back there..."

She began to hyperventilate. Ivan stared helplessly, gingerly bringing his hand back. He wasn't going to force the issue. Matthew drew Sveta in to a caring embrace, rubbing her back and caressing her hair. It calmed her a little, but she had already gone from terrified to sobbing, and her whole body shook as she buried her face in his shoulder.

"Shhh..." Matthew said. "Shhh, shh shh shh... It's alright. You're safe now. I'm here, and I'm never letting anything like that happen to you again. Okay?"

She said something, then, but Ivan didn't hear because her voice was muffled by Matthew's jacket.

"Yes, I know it was dark, I know it was lonely," he whispered. "But you aren't there. You're here, and I'm here with you. You don't have to be lonely anymore."

Ivan shuffled awkwardly. He was tempted to find an excuse to leave – maybe to go find Isaac and Jenna, for example – but what he wanted more than anything was to find the truth. To do that, he had to read Sveta's mind, since she wasn't willing to explain the situation. Ivan would not hurt the girl to get the information he needed, but he certainly was not going to give up this easily.

Luckily, Matthew saved him the trouble.

"Sveta, you don't have to do it if you don't want," he said once her breathing had calmed to a normal pace. "But if you let Ivan read you, then we can both help you. I don't know what happened either, and Ivan can let me in on the memory too. Right, Ivan? I seem to remember Dad saying that you could transfer the messages from Mind Read by clasping hands, or something similar."

Ivan nodded. He hadn't tried it with something as complex as a whole memory, just smaller surface thoughts, but he was confident that it was possible to expand the concept.

"See? You only have to do it once, and if you do, then that'll mean I can see what happened too. That way, I can understand what you're going through a little better." Matthew hugged Sveta more tightly. "But again, if you don't want to, you can sit out. It's alright."

Sveta remained still, breathing silently for several agonizing seconds.

"...I am sorry for hurting your arm," she finally said, "and for threatening you."

Matthew nodded. "It's alright. It's tough, I know. I didn't realize it at the time. So will you help me to understand a little better?"

Sveta wordlessly released herself from Matthew's embrace. She looked in his eyes, wholly trusting, before taking his hand and leading him over to Ivan.

"Please tell me when you are ready," she said.

Ivan smiled in sincere gratitude. With his right hand he grasped Matthew's left, and with his own left hand he touched Sveta's forehead lightly.

"Everyone comfortable?" he asked.

Matthew closed his eyes. Sveta pursed her lips, but nodded.

"Then let's begin."

* * *

_["'Let us begin,' he says," Sveta thought. "Easy for him to say."]_

_A nebulous black cloud whirled into existence. It began to solidify into a vague shape of iron bars, with some hints of ominous lighting and dreary stone. But all at once, the picture dissolved. The black void pushed itself back and away, a plain white field replacing it. Sveta pictured herself standing alone in it, accompanied by a taller beastman, two vaguely anthropomorphic figures wearing crowns, and a familiar blonde-haired human..._

_["...I apologize," Sveta thought. "I just... it takes willpower to face it, rather than just falling back into escapism..."]_

_The field, and those within it, faded slowly and peacefully, replaced once more by a void full of fog. Once again, the iron bars appeared first. The stone beneath Sveta came second. As that image sharpened, the rest of the prison was neglected, until the memory of the cell was complete and fully-formed. An identical cell flashed into existence next to it, followed by a stone wall topped with a nail and a keyring._

_The memory froze._

_Then, all at once, a menacing figure appeared in the next cell over._

_While Sveta was bound, the next figure was standing unimpeded. It was clearly female, topped with a green ponytail. The figure's clothes were a blur of white with bits of purple, and her posture was both imposing and vaguely condescending. But the most noticeable parts were the hands, tipped with sharp, freshly bloody claws, and the face, mouth agape with razor-sharp teeth and eyes dripping with predatory hatred-_

_Then the figure vanished._

_["Sorry."]_

_A simple, green-haired mannequin took its place._

_Then it vanished again, and a green-haired mannequin appeared on the floor, chained to the wall._

_The memory shifted its frame to center on the keyring._

_And without warning, the mannequin glowed brightly, and a horrifying wind roared through each cell. It screamed for souls, it thirsted for blood-_

_The cells shattered violently, replaced at once by a dark void, filled with a feeling of comforting warmth, and the texture of a denim jacket._

_The jacket disappeared, and in its place was a rhythmic thump-thump, thump-thump. A heartbeat._

_["My heart still pounds. I can hear it. It means I am still alive."]_

_["I am still alive, and I am not dying."]_

_["None of this is real."]_

_["Okay."]_

_["I can do this."]_

_["...Alright."]_

_The wind returned. A hideous purple glow filled the air._

_And then, **PAIN-PAIN-PAIN-PAIN**_

_[Ivan rocked back, only keeping the Mind Read active through sheer willpower. It took a moment for him to realize that not all the pain was in his head; his hand was being crushed in Matthew's grip.]_

_The pain stopped, the glow vanished, but the world was fuzzy. The cells slowly began to reform into existence. The keyring still hung from its perch, and the memory still focused on it._

"_Please, no more!" Sveta begged. "Let us find another way."_

_The mannequin shook its head._

_Glow. Horrible, horrible wind. Purple. **PAINPAINPAIN**_

_The dreamscape broke apart into several large pieces. They tried desperately to reform themselves as bits of the memory continued to play, but each time they came back together the **pain** shattered them once more. The pain persisted between scenes, and gradually changed from a searing shock to a stabbing ache to a horrifying ripping, and then the smell of blood was everywhere, and oh gods, there was no air, just water, and there was no escape..._

_The scene fell apart and stayed shattered for a few seconds._

_["...It is not over."]_

_There was nothing visible at first._

_Then, Sveta's cell began to knit itself back together. The other cell never reformed, nor did the stone wall or keyring. Her manacles were no longer present either._

_But now Sveta was not alone._

_The mannequin stood before her, a mockery of a human being. The shape was real, and one could see where all the parts should go. It moved like a human. But it had no soul. And where its soul should have been was a solid core of **fear.**_

_Sveta tried to crawl away, but the cell grew and grew and grew. The corner, and the safety it afforded, was so very, very far away. And Sveta was ever so small compared to the mannequin._

_Wordlessly, the horror turned on its heel and walked out of the cell._

_Sveta could not escape through the now-open door. She would never be able to cross the distance before she bled out._

_Everything was blood._

_..._

_..._

_["...That is all."]_

_..._

* * *

Ivan let his hand drop and collapsed to his knees. He heard Matthew's footsteps, heard his cries of anguish and empathy, but they did not really impact his mind. He had more important things to think about.

Some parts of that memory could be explained. The keyring... Karis had been trying to knock it loose to free herself. She used Whirlwind to do it, which set off the traps. Sveta had begged her to stop, but Ivan realized that while Karis would not have known nearly the same pain, she might have felt a little twinge and mistook it for the same thing. That would explain the continuation. Hopefully.

By the time Karis set herself free, Sveta would have been completely out of her mind with fear, which would explain why she tried to escape... and why she used such a grotesque avatar for his daughter. The girl. Whatever.

...But there had to have been more. Why didn't Karis help Sveta escape? Why did she just leave the door open, with the beastwoman clearly unable to reach it on her own?

These were questions only Karis could answer. And though Ivan realized that most of the animosity he felt came from the memories he had just read, he couldn't help but feel incredibly, deeply disappointed in the woman he called his daughter.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Ehhhh... Sveta's section kind of got away from me. Otherwise there'd be more to this chapter. Sorry. But hey, at least I made the self-imposed deadline!_

_Let's see how long we can keep this going. Next chapter should be up Sept.15th in the evening, or Sept.16th in the wee hours of the morning._

_Sorry for the repetition of stuff you guys already know, by the way. I just need to mention what stuff gets restated, so that I can call attention to the stuff that people still don't actually know. There's probably a simpler way to do it but I haven't thought enough about it yet. =P_

_Short review responses:_

_barefootbean: Well, "third generation" could mean many things. It DOES happen to take place around 50ish years after the Golden Sun, and it DOES contain the first instance of theoretical offspring from a human/beastman couple, and it DOES center mostly around original characters inspired by canon personae... but geez, that could mean anything, right?_

_Lumino: I think I went a little overboard with Sveta's meanness in the last chapter, but hopefully I did a good job of justifying it here. Sadly (luckily?) it's difficult to convey real, physical pain through written word, and I worry that I may not have spent enough time using sense imagery to get what she was feeling across, but I did my best with what I had._


	53. Outwit, Outplay, Outlast

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Caudgel followed after the mysterious young girl, cautious and yet relaxed, until they stopped far enough away from the airship that the cabin lights barely even illuminated Maddie's face. Even though she could no longer see the girl's expression, Caudgel felt a slight chill; a minute before, the poor teenager had been a sniveling wreck, until all at once she had transformed into a hardball negotiator with iron in her veins. It was obviously a mask, but... the girl might still have had a few surprises left in her.

From the darkness, Caudgel threw a grin at the audacious girl – more from her own emotions than from any attempt at intimidation - making sure that she was standing between Maddie and the airship to ensure a solid black silhouette. Being able to sense another's motives was an important skill in a negotiation, and if you couldn't see your opponent's face or body language, doing so became almost impossible.

"So, young lady, pray tell, what 'mistake' have I made that you can rectify?" Caudgel asked. "And don't say 'following me over here,' because I can tell that there's no one waiting to ambush me nearby, and even if there was, they would not be able to match me in combat."

Maddie folded her arms. Then, she unfolded one, reached into her pocket, and unfolded a small pair of glasses. She placed them on her face, the distant cabin light reflecting off of them dramatically. This girl was _good._

"One," she began, raising a single finger on her left hand. "I caught you sneaking in the opposite direction of what appeared to be an angry mob outside of your castle. That means that you've done something that seriously chafes at the townsfolk, and that means that your chances of retaking your position of power are slim to none."

Caudgel was thankful that Maddie couldn't see her face as an involuntary snarl found its way to the surface.

"Two, the Warriors of Vale know you're here," Maddie continued, counting a second finger, "and you happen to be running off with the daughter of one, the wife of another, and a close friend of all of them. If they can find a way to pursue you, they will, and we both know that they are _very_ resourceful."

"Maybe if they can sort themselves out in time," Caudgel muttered, but inside, she admitted that the Warriors were still a very real and present danger.

Maddie smirked as she raised her third finger. "Three, you might just have pissed off the only Warrior of Vale that is on your side. If you're lucky, she'll maintain a working relationship but avoid doing you any favors. If you're unlucky, she'll turn on you at the first chance she gets."

Caudgel hesitated, trying to find flaws in the girl's logic... or at least find things to PRETEND were flaws. But all three issues had, in fact, occurred to her already (to say the least), and she had to admit that if Maddie was sharp enough to spot them that quickly, maybe her solution was worth listening to.

Letting out a causal chuckle, Caudgel leaned forward imperiously. In reflex, she reached for her fan, only just remembering that she had left it in knife form somewhere on the ground after stabbing Karis. "Every bit of what you said is either part of my plan, or irrelevant to it. But please, do go ahead. Tell me about your masterful, miraculous solution to it all." _And then give me a reason to let you live once I have it._

"Simple. Take me on as an assistant."

Caudgel almost choked on her own tongue. Without realizing it, she instinctively went on the defensive.

"A bold move, girl," she said. "You are either very brave or very stupid to suggest that as if it were a _command._"

"But it's a single, low-risk move that will solve all of your immediate problems!" Maddie replied with false cheer. "Bilibin will need to elect a new leader once you leave. I have connections all over the place, I have people I can trust that have faith in me, and if I wanted to, I could probably find a way to become the new Lady within a few years. With Tuaparang's support, it would be a breeze to reach that point in a _week._ If I'm in your pocket, then Bilibin remains in your hands, while the citizens falsely believe themselves to be free of tyranny."

"Such confidence," Caudgel retorted. "We shall see if you are really as capable as you claim to be. What of the Warriors, then? Do you plan to simply wish them away, or do you need Tuaparang to find a genie's lamp for you first?"

"Oh, the Warriors will be the easiest part," Maddie replied. "Or did you forget? I'm dating Mia's son, and he knows that I'm way out of his league. If I ask him to defect, he will. With Rief on our side, Mia won't dare try anything. Suddenly, all the Warriors have for healing support is Piers, who is hardly an experienced doctor. He isn't even on the mainland right now, if I understand correctly.

"The Warriors either have to delay their assault until Piers returns, giving us time to prepare adequately, or they attack without medical support, giving us an easy war of attrition to win. Simply put, if you bring me on, I will single-handedly win you this war. Or is there some fatal flaw in my reasoning?"

For a long, tense moment, Caudgel didn't say anything.

Then she let loose an involuntary guffaw of laughter.

Maddie's eye twitched. But she had no need to worry.

"Oh, my dear girl, you are such an opportunist! A woman after my own heart," Caudgel said. "I will concede, that was truly masterful. And so unexpected! A peasant girl, gifted with talent enough to defeat me in a battle of wits! Of course, you had the advantage in this case; you had the chance to plan all this out beforehand. But you left me no room to manoeuvre, and for that, I must commend you. Next time, you will not be so lucky."

She turned and, motioning for Maddie to follow, began the short walk back to the airship.

"By the way, girl... Maddie, was it?" she asked, "How did someone like you end up with that runt of Mia's?"

Maddie snorted a laugh. "Oh, Rief, you mean? I bumped into him by chance shortly after witnessing what he was capable of, and I decided that I wanted access to that power. He's scrawny and awkward, but that just makes him easier to control. He's already paid serious dividends, and it looks like he'll be keeping that up in the future. But you already know all about using love to buy power, don't you, Lady McCoy?"

"Ha ha! Oh, I _like_ you, Maddie. I think this may just turn out to be a good idea after all."

* * *

Maddie resisted the urge to collapse with exhaustion.

She resisted the urge to throw herself at the monster before her in rage.

And she resisted the urge to vomit with disgust at the things she had just promised and the claims she had made.

* * *

"Can I sit in the front with you, then?" Maddie asked hopefully. If she was upset or bothered by the exchange they had just had, she didn't show it.

"I don't see why not," Caudgel replied with the warmest smile she had ever worn. It wasn't trust. Not quite. More a lack of paranoia than anything else. But something about the girl made Caudgel want to ignore her instincts and just let her guard down.

There was something very, very familiar about Maddie, but Caudgel could not quite figure out what.

* * *

Isaac and Jenna met up with Ivan, Matthew and Sveta with very little incident. Matthew was more than a little relieved to see that his parents were safe and happy together, and Sveta had recovered significantly enough by that point to join in the excitement. Ivan remained distant, but that was nothing new.

With two injured companions in tow, the group decided that it would be best to retrace their steps back to their original entrance rather than risking the front entrance; some sounds of conflict had already started to make their way into the rest of the castle, most likely some reaction to the loss of the city's leader, and even with a party of demigods, accidents could easily happen in the confusion of a large battle.

Tyrell, Rief and Kraden greeted the group as they rose out of the hole. Isaac and Matthew sealed it shut together, bending the stone into a workable facsimile of the street as it had appeared before the prison break.

There was some panic amongst the others as stories were shared and truths came to light. Tyrell was understandably worried about his father's "episode," as they called it. Ivan was having trouble with the idea that his daughter had gone after Mia in hopes of simply talking sense into her. And when Rief, upon checking Felix's vitals, announced that his organs were failing and that any normal person would likely already be dead, Jenna did not take the news well at all.

"FIX HIM!" she shouted. "Fix him fix him fix him! If he dies, I'm blaming you personally. Is there anything we can do to help? Some rare mountain herb that can revitalize him? Should we sacrifice virgins? Because I will fucking find some virgins and sacrifice them _right here_ if that's what it'll take to keep my brother alive."

Rief shrank under her verbal assault, but managed to weakly mumble something about him just needing some rest under the care of a good healer.

Tyrell had the presence of mind to toss Matthew the Sol Blade before running to his father's side. Isaac explained Caudgel's misdirection and Garet's excessive enthusiasm upon finding an outlet for his rage. Tyrell gave little thought to it beyond acknowledging that Felix was probably not his mother's assassin, and promising to stick his fingers in his ears next time Caudgel came within shouting distance of him.

"But wait..." Tyrell wondered out loud, with typical Tyrell logic, "if my fingers are in my ears, how will I hold my axe? Do I set my axe aside and just try to bite her or something? Do I hold my axe with my foot? Matthew, you're the smart one! Give me some ideas here!"

Matthew found it useful to do the same thing he had always done in the past when Tyrell asked him a question like that: remain silent.

At the far end of the group, Kraden was grilling Sveta for information, having learned that she knew the effects of psynergy-draining devices on beastmen firsthand. He was sensitive enough to avoid asking her what it felt like directly, but she was able to confirm most of his fears; it could likely incapacitate a member of her race in seconds, and it could kill painfully with less than a minute of exposure. He promised to look into the devices when he had a chance, in hopes of finding a workaround or countermeasure. No one deserved that kind of death.

More fruitful, in Sveta's opinion, was the discussion that directly followed that.

"Sir Kraden, something interesting has come to my attention," she said. "I am sure you recall the destruction of Luna Tower by the Apollo Lens, and the wave of psynergy that followed? Do you have any theories as to what that may have done to, or for, my people?"

Kraden smiled. "Why do you ask? Do you suspect something has happened to them?"

Sveta told him of the war between the two nations, how Bilibin was bringing anti-psynergy weaponry to bear against a nation that had no Adepts, and how she and Matthew had found battle reports claiming that there had been no beastman casualties whatsoever despite heavy losses for Bilibin.

"Under normal circumstances, I would point to your misfortune in the prison as a reason for Bilibin to bring those devices to bear," Kraden replied grimly. "But as you no doubt suspected, I do have reason to believe that the wave of light has affected your people in some manner. There was an obvious physical change that you no doubt noticed, for example – most of their fur has turned to a shade of yellow or gold. Also, I recall meeting a small child who said something that implied detection of psynergy to me – only Adepts can sense psynergy.

"But those one-sided battle reports have convinced me. I have travelled with Adepts for much of my life, and I have seen their superiority to almost any other variety of soldier firsthand. If Belinsk is being defended by an army of soldiers capable of using psynergy of any kind, they will have tactics available to them that Bilibin's generals could not even conceive of. There is no doubt in my mind now that the Luna Tower's explosion has given many of your people Adept talents, if not all of them."

"But how is that possible?" Sveta asked. "As far as I know, Adepts are born from at least one Adept parent. The Czamaral Clan was the only bloodline tied to psynergy among the beastmen, and I am the last of them."

"Ah, but that is not true! It is possible to turn a non-Adept into an Adept through some mechanic I don't quite understand yet," Kraden said. "You know someone that this happened to, in fact! Eoleo was struck on the head by a falling psynergy stone at the age of 2, and is now a Mars Adept despite his parents lacking the talent!"

He paused. His face scrunched up as a new thought occurred to him.

"...But then, what kind of Adepts would they be?" he asked rhetorically. "The psynergy stone that struck Eoleo came directly from Mt Aleph, which meant it might have carried any or all elements within it. But the Apollo Lens runs on pure light, as far as I can tell. Light is not associated with any natural element, unless..."

"Unless what?" Sveta asked.

Kraden's eyes widened. He grabbed Sveta by the shoulders in his excitement. "Your Majesty, I must ask a favor of you as a friend!" he shouted. "When this is all over, I would be deeply indebted to you if you would let me come to Belinsk to study the effects of the light wave firsthand!"

"I... ah..."

"I will pay for my own room and board, and I will not interfere with rebuilding efforts in any way. I simply wish to test a hypothesis that, if true, will revolutionize the study of psynergy as we know it!"

Sveta blinked. It was nice of him to ask for her permission, considering that she was going to ask him to study her people in the same manner anyway. But while she was still technically Queen... she suspected that she might not be for very much longer.

"I see no reason that you would be turned back if you came to Belinsk with those intentions," Sveta said ambiguously. "I would welcome you with open arms."

She was still baffled as to the nature of his suspicions.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Sorry for the short chapter tonight. I have to get up early tomorrow, and I didn't get as much done as I had hoped, but I promised an update, so... here. The good news is that I've got nigh-infinite free time this weekend, so the next chapter that goes up (on the evening of the 18th or early morning of the 19th) should be pretty sizeable._

_It's funny – I spent a whole bunch of time trying to write and rewrite the section with Isaac and co, and it didn't really flow smoothly until I got impatient and just crammed 3 or 4 scenes into one summary. I think it works better this way. It means there's a faster pace, I don't have to waste time with filler, and I get to focus more on the scenes where stuff is happening beyond the boring infodumps that I always spend too much time on._


	54. Focal Point

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Maddie did not quite know what to expect from the airship as she entered it. Rief had mentioned them; largeish metal boxes with whirly propellers on either side, designed to fly through the air like a bird if birds could also hover. At the time, she thought it was oddly specific and incredibly vague, but now she was glad he had described it that way. She knew the airship on sight from its description – what else in the world looked like a whirly propeller box? Not much! - and that meant that she understood what it would eventually be doing.

It still scared the hell out of her that she would be locked in a metal box floating over nothing, accompanied by two people who might, if she took a false step, try to murder her. But hiding that fear was an important part too – she had somehow managed to trick Lady McCoy into thinking that she had something resembling a backbone, and maintaining that illusion could be the only thing keeping her alive. She thought of Rief, and what he would do in this situation... based on what she knew of him from the past 8ish hours that they had known each other. This was made weirder by the fact that she kept having to badmouth him to keep her cover. What would Rief do? Talk trash about himself! Yeah, that'll work. Yeah.

Maddie shivered. She was going to fail and she knew it and it was hopeless to try and NO DON'T THINK THAT WAY.

They walked into the cabin together. Mia was seated next to Karis' head, and across from the mysterious redhead with the odd pallor. Mia gave a token smile, the kind of smile you'd give to a person who you thought you _might_ know from somewhere but didn't want to weird them out too much in case it was a case of mistaken identity.

"So what's the verdict?" she asked Caudgel.

Caudgel smiled smugly. "Oh, she's harmless enough. I'll be keeping an eye on her in the cockpit, as I assume that you will have your hands full keeping these two asleep and healthy. Am I right about that?"

Mia rolled her eyes. "Sure. Have fun."

It killed Maddie to see her hero kicked to the curb like that, and she made sure Caudgel was looking the other way before giving a gentle wave goodbye with as much compassion and apology as she could pour into it. The analytical part of her mind pointed out that the rift that had formed between Mia and Caudgel seemed to be growing larger, and that could be exploited to turn Mia against the Tuaparang, or at least turn the Tuaparang against Caudgel. But it ached to have to ignore a friend's plight in favor of the bigger picture.

The airship cockpit was a mess of buttons, switches, and blinking lights that Maddie couldn't begin to make sense of. After being directed toward one of the two seats present, she sat down quickly, careful not to bump into anything, and kept her distance from anything and everything on the control panel. Caudgel took the other seat, grabbed the odd wheel-ish thing in front of her, pressed several seemingly random buttons, and then sat back in a relaxed pose.

A low hum filled the air – not as loud as Maddie had been expecting, really, considering the size of those propellers – and she felt her muscles tense with anticipation. What would it feel like to fly?

Her stomach dropped out beneath her. She gave a short shriek and clutched her seat's armrests until her knuckles were bone-white. She squeezed her eyes shut, worried that something terrible had happened and not wanting to see whatever it was that was going to kill her -

"Oh, calm down. I know it's disorienting at first, but you're completely safe."

Her heart was racing, she was panting like she had just run a mile, and she still felt about twice as heavy as she should have. But she slowly, slowly opened one eye. She counted to ten, and was pleasantly surprised to find herself still alive at the end of it. She loosened her grip very carefully, still holding the armrests for support.

She opened her other eye and finally took note of her surroundings.

The window before her was a field of stars.

She blinked once to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. Yep, those were stars. Stars all the way down to the long, flat horizon, with no buildings or trees or mountains or ANYTHING to block the way. It was incredible.

Very carefully, she sat up in her chair, lifting herself up out of it to get a look at the ground.

Everything was tiny.

She fell back in the chair, having lost her balance due to vertigo.

"I-incredible..." she stammered.

Caudgel laughed quietly. "Just wait until we go over the edge. Tuaparang isn't over any land at all – you look down, and all you can see is distant fog."

Maddie whimpered. "...It's a flying city? Oh geez, is it always like this over there?"

"Oh, gods, no!" Caudgel replied with amusement. "It's much larger than an airship, which I understand makes it quite a bit more stable. You never know you're in the air unless you look over the edge - which I don't recommend ever doing, by the way. I made that mistake once and almost lost my lunch. You just feel so tiny and weak, and the hole goes down forever and ever..."

Still shivering slightly from takeoff, Maddie forced herself to sit up straight. She tried to relax, tried to slow her breathing down...

"So..." she said when she felt capable of thinking of something other than the long, long distance to the ground, "how did you get involved with the Tuaparang, if you don't mind me asking? I-I mean, if it's too personal of a question..."

Shoot! She lost her nerve for a second. That could be costly. Should've worded that more confidently, something like... oh, whatever...

Caudgel didn't seem to notice the shift in personality at all. She just shrugged, and after a few seconds, she began to speak.

"Well... the Empyror found us all – the generals, I mean – by our reputation. He's a resourceful man. I was the last of us to be recruited, but it also meant that he was confident enough to give me a lot more freedom than, say, Blados, who was on a short leash for as long as I knew him. He's never even manipulated me... not that he ever needed to. I go where the power is, and Tuaparang will eventually have all of it. That is something I can assure you.

"But my claim to fame was actually my own quiet rise to power. I married Lord McCoy before he was the leader, killed the ORIGINAL Lord and Lady McCoy in such a way that it appeared an accident, and subtly enforced my will everywhere I could. Somehow, the High Empyror caught wind of my accomplishments, and recruited me as his master spy, ironically assigning me a codename based on a blunt weapon. He's got a sense of humor. I've been slowly corroding Angara's infrastructure ever since, and my position allowed me to give situational support and a base of operations for the other three generals."

Maddie blinked in surprise. Caudgel had never seemed like the open or outgoing type. Why had it been so easy to make her spill the beans about her history? Maddie decided to pursue this a little, and see how far she could push it before her opponent clammed up.

"So then, how'd you get the chance to marry... uh, Prince McCoy, I guess he was?" she asked. "I was just a baby when it happened, and I don't remember any details, but unless you were already nobility..."

"No, you're right," Caudgel said, "I was a commoner for most of my early life. I just happened to catch the eye of McCoy the Younger one day... ironically, I only had the chance because my boyfriend at the time had a job within the palace. I saw my chance at a better life, and I took it. I started seeing the other man behind my boyfriend's back, and... let's just say there are ways to get a man to marry you if you really want him to.

"I didn't technically need to kill his parents, either. They were in favor of the wedding once they knew the, ah, circumstances. I won't get into those at the moment. But I did want to kill the old Lady McCoy for my own reasons, and I figured, why not put my new husband in the throne while I'm at it? That old hag ruined most of the city with her senseless demands, and if I hadn't replaced her, Bilibin would have fallen to rubble at her greedy hands."

"...What did she do?" Maddie asked.

Caudgel sighed. "Are you familiar with the Sun Saga?" she asked.

Maddie coughed. "Ahhhh... somewhat."

"Good enough," the older woman replied. "Do you recall when the Warriors went to Bilibin? Lady McCoy had mandated the construction of a palace for herself. As in, a second one, identical to the one she already had. And for some fool reason she had her workers cut the lumber from Kolima Forest, which was actually fairly close to Bilibin at the time... it's sort of complicated.

"Anyway, her lumberjacks went in, but the moment the first tree fell, some terrible tragedy befell them and everyone living in Kolima at the time. They were cursed, and they took the form of trees. Naturally, the Warriors of Vale came in, lifted the curse somehow, and went on their merry way once they could travel through the forest without being forcibly shapeshifted. Unsurprisingly, they didn't give a moment's thought to making sure that the citizens of either town were okay, and the moment they were out of sight, Lady McCoy demanded that her second palace be completed anyway, but with wood from somewhere other than Kolima.

"So she had plans written up for importing lumber, using methods that the city could support neither with manpower nor finances, and nearly shut down Bilibin on her own. But then the Golden Sun happened, destroying most of the city – including both palaces, much to her dismay – and the people were forced to rebuild. Lord McCoy had the motivation to say no to his crazy wife for the first few years, just long enough to lay the foundations for what would eventually become Bilibin City.

"Not that either of them had any real leadership skills. I turned that city into a nation from behind the scenes in just 17 short years."

"Wow," Maddie muttered, her mouth dry. She didn't know what to say. Was THAT what Caudgel was trying to do? Because it was working. "I... I guess I'll have a tough act to follow, then."

Caudgel shook her head. "You won't have any trouble. You're a good-looking girl, which will give you an advantage when dealing with common people. And you come from them, too, which I can tell you from experience will give you a lot of leeway in your decision-making early on. You have a sort of innocent charm about you that might make them think you're incapable of doing something to hurt people... though we both know that's a crock, isn't it?"

Maddie laughed nervously.

"You'll only be a puppet anyway," Caudgel continued. "You won't have to even think about how to run the nation. I'll tell you what to do and when, and you'll be applauded for wisdom beyond your years. They wouldn't even think of deposing you. Just keep the Adepts out, and you'll do fine."

_And so we hit the real issue,_ Maddie thought. She had no idea how to bring this up while maintaining her persona. Knowing what the woman's issue with Adepts was might not help in the long run – Maddie was under no illusions that she'd be able to change that opinion, or make Caudgel any less of a bigot – but she was so, so curious...

"What's wrong with Adepts?" Maddie asked cautiously. "I mean... we want power, right? Why not just trick some Adepts into working for us? We could harness their talents, and-"

"And before long, the common people will see the Adepts performing their little tricks and think, 'Hey, that's the kind of person we want leading us!' No thank you," Caudgel said. "It's silly, really. Commoners are always going on and on about how they want their freedom, and they need to be able to make their own decisions, but they're so incredibly willing to place themselves lower in the hierarchy than someone who can impress them with tricks they don't understand. I mean, look... Ayuthay. Yamata. Morgal. Kibombo. Probably Kalay, before long. All of them led by Adepts. Hell, most of them have royal bloodlines defined by Adept talents. Bilibin is blessed to have normal humans at its head, and the moment we start to tolerate Adepts is the moment they'll seize power."

"I... uh... maybe?" Maddie stammered. "I mean, just... wow, I never thought of that."

"That's one of the reasons you'd be such a great successor," Caudgel answered. "You aren't an Adept. You can stick with that boy toy of yours just long enough for us to wipe out the Warriors of Vale, and then throw him out with the rest of the trash. I'm sure you wouldn't WANT to stick with him any longer than you had to, but if you let him follow you to the throne, people would start listening to him before you sooner or later." A sigh. "Partly because he is a man, too, but of course we can't just kill all the men in the world. That would be silly."

"Heh heh... uhm, right."

Maddie decided that she suddenly was not very interested in learning more about Caudgel's past.

"Soooo..." Maddie said slowly. "I've been meaning to ask. Who's that redhead back in the cabin?"

"Oh, that was just Doub- uh, Felix's girlfriend. I don't know much about her, I've just been around her for a few minutes at a time when they needed to remove her from stasis temporarily. Crazy woman, she is. No idea what he sees in her."

"What's her name?"

"Karst."

"...You don't mean THE Karst? One of the villains from the Sun Saga?"

"Yup."

"But she died!"

"Apparently not. Just crippled. She can't walk under her own power."

"B-but... but Felix is supposed to be dating Sheba, not the bad guy! He dove after her when she fell from the lighthouse, and..."

"...Huh?"

"N-nevermind."

Maddie shrank back, hoping to avoid any further conversation. She hadn't meant to embarrass herself that way, but... but Felix and Sheba! It was so obvious! They were her one true pairing, and... and Karst was supposed to be dead, and... oh, there was no justice in the world.

She sunk into the seat. It was designed for utility, not comfort, but... wow, she was tired. She hadn't even noticed until she got the chance to sit down like this. It had been an exhausting day of meeting famous people, nearly dying, and faking heroism. Plus, it was very, very late.

She looked out the window.

"Wow..." she said. "I had no idea I'd been awake for so long. The sun's almost up again."

Caudgel turned to her in surprise. "Huh? What do you mean? It's an hour past midnight. The sun won't be up for a while yet."

"But... what about the sky? I can see it changing color way off in that direction." Maddie pointed vaguely southeast, where the sky had indeed turned an odd shade of reddish pink. "See?"

Caudgel just stared.

"That... I don't know what that is," she said. "But it's definitely not from the sun."

* * *

The world slowly began to swim into focus.

His eyes were shut, but he could tell it was dark beyond his eyelids. There was a dull murmur coming into his ears from several quiet conversations happening nearby. Most of his body had a sort of wet numbness to it that he didn't find quite comfortable, but that didn't register as altogether dangerous. His head ached, but that was nothing new.

Felix opened his eyes.

Okay, lots of stars, and he was on his back. That meant nighttime, and outdoors. Voices nearby, still too woozy to make out any particulars, but that meant lots of people. Wet numbness... that reminded Felix of the effects of Mercury psynergy. So if the people had healed him, they obviously needed him alive. That still didn't clarify whether or not they were hostile.

He took several slow breaths, trying to force the world into focus. He slowly and cautiously moved each of his limbs – slow enough that, hopefully, no one would notice him doing it – and when he was satisfied by the lack of pain, and satisfied that they all functioned, he stopped.

He counted to three, and on three, he jerked upright, hoping to gain the element of surprise in case it turned out the mysterious figures surrounding him wished him harm. He didn't have a weapon, but he'd have a better chance with the initiative than without.

His plan was to get to his feet next, but he felt a heavy weight on his legs that wasn't there before, and found himself staring into a very familiar face.

"FELIX!" Jenna cried.

Felix almost fell back to the ground in surprise.

She threw her arms around him. Distantly, he heard a voice telling her to "be gentle, he's injured," but she certainly didn't seem to be listening. She squeezed him so tightly that he was certain one of his ribs was going to crack, and then the pressure was released abruptly.

"How're you feeling?" Jenna asked. "Garet's still unconscious, by the way, so you don't need to worry about that. Sorry for not listening closely enough to your advice about that other general. She hoodwinked the lot of us. Everyone survived, luckily, so we'll have another chance at her. We'll be ready next time."

As the memories of what had immediately preceded his short time-out flooded back to him, he looked around to take stock of his surroundings. He scanned the faces of the people around him – Kraden, Ivan, Isaac... a few of the kids whose names escaped him... and the beastgirl, Sveta. So, not hostile.

"Okay," Felix said, "can I just get to my feet for a second? I want to make sure everything's okay."

Jenna hopped off and pulled him up. Felix brushed off some dust and stretched his legs. Yup, everything was in working order. Even the dull ache he usually felt in the pit of his stomach was gone-

Wait. He could use psynergy again.

"Where's my sword?" he asked. "You know, big, dark blade, drains my psynergy... keeps me from amassing enough power to accidentally pop a vortex into existence?"

"I left it inside," Jenna answered. "None of us was really feeling up to, ah, touching it. But what do you mean about accidentally creating a vortex?"

"Well, I've lost count, but I have somewhere between 30 and 50 djinn on me right now. I've literally got enough power pulsing through me to tear a hole in reality and spawn a Psynergy Vortex if I don't keep it in check. So I guess you could say it's _kind of important_ that I go back and grab it right the hell now-"

"Wait, what are you talking about?" Ivan piped up. "50 djinn wouldn't give you that kind of energy. Not by a long shot."

Felix shot a glare toward Ivan. "Yeah it would," he answered. "It happened."

Ivan continued anyway. "Then it was your surroundings, not you. Maybe you ADDED to it, but the only vortexes we've been able to identify have been in places of massive, _massive_ concentrations of psynergy – either that, or they turned out to be created artificially by the Tuaparang. We're talking about the kinds of caverns where psynergy stones form. If the ground isn't spontaneously crystalizing around you, you probably can't pull it off on your own."

"Queen Sveta was there," Felix said. "We were in an airship. We flew by Mercury Lighthouse, and I could actually feel it happening. It was like the world itself was bubbling over, and then the vortex showed up-"

"Can I point something out?" Ivan countered. "Mercury Lighthouse."

"What abou-"

"MERCURY LIGHTHOUSE. One of the world's sources of psynergy, where it is actually generated in enough quantities that it will empower Adepts just because they're standing nearby."

Felix growled. This was starting to turn into a confrontation.

"Look, Ivan," he said. "You're just proving that it might not have been me. But I've been living like this for years now, and I'm not about to-"

"Quick question," Isaac said, clearing his throat. "Who told you that you were basically a walking time-bomb?"

"It was..."

Oh.

Right.

Godsdammit.

Felix let out a string of curses that might have made Eoleo blush.

"It was the High Empyror! Sonofabitch!" Felix shouted. "He's been planning this from day one, I'll bet, trying to give me a reason to willingly give up my greatest advantage over him-"

"And, ah, kill you slowly," the short, blue-haired boy cut in. "Being constantly drained like that has taken a serious toll on, well, almost every part of your body. Your liver looks like you've been taking injections of pure alcohol since you were a baby, your heart's pumping like it has a grudge against your arteries, and don't even get me started on your kidneys."

"Mia told you, didn't she?" Jenna asked. "I'm sure this would be a lot to take in, otherwise."

Felix nodded. "Uh... Rief, right? How long do you think I have left?"

"To live?"

"Yeah."

"On your own? Maybe a month. With me or my mom looking after you, assuming you take it easy? It won't kill you at all. So quit being so melodramatic already."

Felix let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. That was kind of a relief, actually. He always figured that he'd go out fighting, and the idea that his body might just give up had struck him as rather depressing.

"Well, thanks. I appreciate that. Sorry about the outburst, everyone."

"It's okay," Jenna said. "You've been through a lot over the past little while."

"Yeah."

There was an awkward silence.

"Why'd you fight my dad?" the burly redhead standing off to the side asked.

Felix hesitated. "You're Garet's boy, then? Good question!" he answered. "It was more that, uh, he tried to fight me. I didn't really do much to him-"

"Okay then," the boy amended, "why'd he try to fight you?"

"Because Caudgel made him think I killed your mom."

"...Did you?"

"Of course not."

"Ivan, did he?"

Ivan shrugged. "I could try reading him, but it's kind of hard to prove a negative just by reading somebody's mind. I believe him, though, she was lying about everything else."

The boy nodded. "Good enough. I'm glad you two didn't kill each other."

"Me too," Felix said. "I, ah, didn't catch your name-"

"Oh!" Jenna exclaimed, clasping her hands together. "Of course! Introductions! Silly me, you've been missing for thirty years, and here I was just assuming you'd magically know who everybody was."

As she moved around, introducing everyone, she gave Felix a chance to shake hands, as awkward as it was in some cases.

"You've already met Rief," she said. "He's Mia's son. He's got an older sister, too, but she's off with Piers, apparently."

"...I guess sorry wouldn't quite cut it, considering all that I've done against you," Felix said to Rief. "I'll try to make amends."

Rief shrugged. "I trust you. You did what you thought was right at the time."

"...And this is Tyrell, Garet's boy," Jenna continued. She paused to let them shake hands. "And Sveta, Queen of Morgal-"

"We've met, too," Felix interrupted. "And again, I apologize. If it hadn't been for me, you'd never be in this mess."

"Trust me, it has been quite beneficial to me as well," Sveta said with a grin. "You had no choice in the matter. I am sure that if not for the Empyror, you would never have even considered being a kidnapper."

Jenna continued heedlessly. "Aaaand of course, this is your nephew, my only son, Matthew. I'm sure you have a lot to say about the fact that I married Isaac, but believe me when I say that I couldn't care less about your opinion on the matter."

Matthew extended a hand, wordlessly offering a token smile. Felix took it and shook it firmly.

But something caught his eye.

"What's that?" Felix asked, pointing over Matthew's shoulder.

Matthew turned and looked behind him. "Uh... a wall? I don't..."

"No, I mean..."

Felix grasped the handle of the weapon strapped to Matthew's back, and drew it from its sheath in one smooth motion.

He looked it over, up and down, feeling its familiar weight, like meeting an old friend. Its blade was still as sharp as ever, and it glistened somewhat-ironically in the moonlight.

"The Sol Blade," Felix said reverently. "How'd you find this? It was mine."

The adults all snapped to attention, with the exception of Kraden, who naturally knew all along, but had neglected to say anything.

"Wait, that's the Sol Blade?"

"Geez, I thought it looked familiar-"

"Matthew, how'd you find-"

Matthew raised his hands defensively. "Aah! One at a time, please!" he said. "I just sort of found it. It was sitting out in the open."

"Where?" Felix snapped.

"The Apollo Sanctum. It was in this pedestal thing-"

"How'd you take it out?"

"What are you talking about?" Matthew asked sharply. "It just slid out. Once we popped the orbs in, it slid out easy-"

Felix grabbed Matthew roughly by the arms. "I need you to tell me one thing, and be honest. I still don't wish you harm, but it's _essential_ that you tell me the truth-"

"About what?"

"Did you activate the Apollo Lens?"

Matthew glanced in Sveta's direction. She strode toward him quickly to stand at his side.

"The Lens was activated, yes," Matthew said, "but not by me. It was her brother who did it. He gave his life to end the Grave Eclipse."

Felix loosened his grip, but his expression didn't change. "That's as good a reason as any, I suppose... but did you at least deactivate it afterward?"

Matthew and Sveta looked at each other questioningly.

"You can deactivate it?"

* * *

"_Okay. Target's in our sights?"_

"_Correct."_

"_Everything's in working order?"_

"_As far as I can tell."_

"_...Then would you like to do the honors, or shall I?"_

"_Of firing the Lens? It's up to you, really. You seem so psyched up about whatever it is you're about to do-"_

"_Right, right. You know how djinn are created, yes?"_

"_Yes."_

"_And you know how we've pointed the Lens at that massive psynergy vortex hovering above Mt Aleph?"_

"_...You can't be serious."_

"_It's just an experiment, sister. But one that I am fairly certain will work. I'm excited. Are you?"_

"_I'm a little scared, actually."_

"_Good. A healthy sense of paranoia is always useful. But if this works, then the only person in the world you will have left to fear is your own elder brother."_

"_...Do I have a reason to be afraid of you?"_

"_Do you have a reason to oppose me, Chalis?"_

"_No."_

"_Then there's your answer. Firing the Lens in three... two..."_

* * *

A brilliant lance of pure light shone from the barrel of the massive Lens, and for a moment, one could be forgiven for thinking that it was daytime. The light poured out into the sky, illuminating the world as effectively as the sun itself.

It struck the core of the huge vortex floating in the air above Mt Aleph.

The vortex didn't seem to react at first. But to any observer, it could be seen to visibly shrink, slowly at first, but faster and faster as time went on.

When the beam finally dissipated, the vortex was gone.

All that remained was a miniscule, almost imperceptible point of light hovering in the air.

It descended to the peak of the mountain below it, following an erratic, almost curious pattern, as if it had a mind of its own and wanted to learn all about the world around it.

But when it found the peak, it stopped. It made no further move, waiting patiently for some unknown sign or event.

To any who had not witnessed the event directly, there simply appeared to be a new star perched atop Mt Aleph. And since the vast majority of the people in Weyard were already asleep, few gave it a second thought.

* * *

"AAAAAH!" Maddie shouted as the airship shook. As the beam fired, it created a shockwave of rapidly expanding air, which was potent enough that it even affected the flying vehicle many miles away.

Caudgel fussed with the controls, righting the airship with ease. The cockpit door slammed open, Mia appearing in the open passageway.

"What the hell was that?" she cried.

Caudgel grinned, staring into the distance with genuine adoration.

"My guess? The High Empyror just did something amazing," she said. "He does it a lot. You'll get used to it."

* * *

Felix was the only member of the group who remained calm as the sky darkened once more.

"I guess we're a little late to deactivate the thing," he muttered. "Luckily, it isn't much use as a weapon. It can't aim downward enough to hit surface targets. But... I can't figure out what he was planning to do with it. Something about an experiment...?"

"What the hell's going on?" Jenna shouted at him. "If you know something, spill it!"

"I left the Sol Blade there years ago in an attempt to activate the Lens for the Empyror," Felix responded. "But I couldn't pull the blade back out. I probably needed those orbs Matthew mentioned, but I wouldn't have been able to retrieve them thanks to my affiliation with Tuaparang."

"What 'experiment'?" Matthew asked. "Are you saying that the Empyror fired that damn thing?"

Felix nodded. "Whatever he was trying to do, he just did it. I suspect that the whole ordeal with the Grave Eclipse was centered around forcing you kids to activate the Lens in the first place. Since you didn't know how to turn it back off, it's been running ever since, just waiting for His Highness to show up and... and I don't know. Whatever he's done, we aren't going to like it."

Isaac stepped forward and folded his arms.

"Alright," he said, "so we've got another problem on our hands. Where do you suggest we go now?"

Felix gritted his teeth.

"We go to Tuaparang to stop him, of course."

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Big ol' chapter with a lot of stuff to take in. Sorry about that. I need to work on my pacing a little, maybe space out these plot revelations one at a time in the future. Please tell me if you're confused by anything so I can either edit this chapter or clarify it in the next!_

_Apologies to those of you who hate OCs, too. About half of this chapter revolved around a scene that actually didn't include ANY characters from the game, which didn't occur to me until I was almost finished. People don't read fanfics to see original characters, right? I hope nobody minds too much._

_Oh, almost forgot! Next chapter should go up on the 21/22nd, as usual. I'm liking this schedule thing, it keeps me on task without restricting me too much.  
_

_Review responses:_

_Pr Kaos: Oh, don't worry about Kraden. It'll take more than some measly excitement to shut his ticker down._

_I always imagined that every time Matthew's team/Felix's team got in a fight, they were just fending off one small part of a massive force Kraden was dealing with single-handedly. (Okay not really)_

_CreationsGoneAwry: Hello again! Yaaay another Seekers fan. *fistbump*_

_Karis certainly did apologize, it's just that Sveta wasn't paying an ounce of attention to her. What happened is that she realized Sveta was being hurt, but didn't actually know why until Kraden mentioned a possible explanation. (In the original draft she did have some awkward "creature of psynergy" comment but I removed it because it didn't make sense.)_

_And for the record, I've never thought of Maddie as particularly lacking in intelligence; she's just a bit of a ditz about a lot of things. I think these past few scenes have had some much-needed character development, as it's important to realize that every other time we've seen her she was either dumbstruck by the Warriors of Vale or lovestruck by her blue-haired boytoy. Now that she's actually facing some adversity, she'll show a different side – she'll never overshadow the real heroes of the story, but I felt it was important to include a female character that wasn't "Fiery tomboy with a sarcastic streak and a talent for combat," aka Jenna, Mia, Karis and to a lesser extent Sveta._

_It's okay that Maddie annoys you though, she's supposed to bother people a little bit. I'm trying to match up the most annoying character in the story with the most annoying character in the game, y'know?_


	55. Red Card

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"Okay," Felix said, instinctively taking the leadership role. "Mia and I arrived in an airship from Tuaparang. It's parked in a clearing a short distance away. We should probably use that in our assault on the city; it's kind of difficult to reach on foot. I'll explain on the way. Who's coming?"

Jenna and Isaac immediately raised their hands, followed by Tyrell, Rief, Matthew and Sveta. Matthew blinked in surprise and gave Sveta a meaningful glance, but didn't say anything.

"Rief, can you wake up Garet, please?" Felix asked. "Isaac, hold him down and explain the situation, if you're okay with that. I'd rather not start another confrontation. Ivan, is something troubling you?"

Ivan shrugged. "I might come, but... where's Karis gone to? I thought she'd be outside."

"She went to look for Mia," Tyrell said. "She's probably just wandering around the city somewhere. No idea where either of them went. She'll be back eventually."

"Then I'll stay here and look for her," Ivan said. "I have some things I need to discuss with her."

Felix nodded. "So everyone but Ivan, Karis, and obviously Mia are joining us? There's no harm in backing out, and I can guarantee it'll be dangerous over there."

"We will be fine," Sveta said. "I guarantee we have faced worse-"

But she was interrupted by Matthew, who, with a very nervous expression, asked: "Sveta, uh... can we talk? Alone?"

"Is it about the trip? Why can we not talk about it here-"

"_Alone._"

She shrugged, and followed Matthew a short distance away from the group.

"Oookay," Felix muttered. "We'll wait for them, then. Rief, how's Garet coming along?"

"He's awake, gimme a minute," Isaac said before Rief could answer. "Just, ah... okay, Garet, let me give you the short version..."

* * *

"What did you wish to speak with me about?"

Matthew considered his words carefully. This was an issue he felt very strongly about, but he knew it might offend her. He was no master of tact. He worried that she might do something drastic if he said the wrong thing. But...

"Sveta, I don't want you to go to Tuaparang."

She raised an eyebrow in response.

"Just let me explain, please," Matthew continued. "It's just... well, over there, they're going to have a lot of stuff to deal with, y'know, _us._ Adepts in general, but the Warriors and their families especially. That sort of thing is bad enough for humans to deal with, but it almost killed you last time. I'm not taking that risk again."

"I do not believe it is your decision to make," Sveta replied. "We have always had to risk death or serious injury in our travels. This is no different-"

"But it IS different!" Matthew cried. "I was there with Ivan, reading your memories. I don't want you to ever have to go through that sort of pain again. Not ever. And letting you risk death was one thing when we were just friends. Now it's a whole other matter. If I came back and you didn't, I just... I'm not sure if I would ever recover."

"Oh, and you think I would be fine if YOU never returned?"

"Psynergy traps don't tear at my skin like razor blades. You'd be in more danger than me."

Sveta folded her arms. "You insult me, Matthew. You act as if I cannot take care of myself. I have proven myself to be more than competent in battle, and if I am at your side, you will be much more likely to come back safely than if I remain here."

"I'm willing to risk my own safety," Matthew replied, eyes pleading. "Not yours."

"Then let ME risk my safety!"

"Sveta-"

"No, Matthew, you have no right to-"

"Sveta, I'm not budging on this issue. Stay here."

"No!" she shouted. "What, you think you can order me around like a common housewife, or... or some _pet?_ I am a living, thinking being, and I have the right to make my own decisions, and I want to be able to fight at your side while we face the people who brought ruin to my homeland and _murdered my brother!_"

"No."

It broke his heart to have to talk to her that way, but he would never let harm come to her ever again if he could help it.

She slapped him across the face and stormed back to the group.

* * *

"So, are we square, Garet?" Felix asked, trying to ignore the angry words being exchanged just a few meters away. "No more fighting between us? No grievances?"

Garet grudgingly nodded. "...If you didn't do it, can you tell me who actually did, then?"

Felix shook his head. "They might have those records in the city's archives, though. In fact, I'd be surprised if they didn't. I'll make it a point to take you there when we get the chance."

He extended a hand, which Garet shook firmly. Isaac handed Garet his axe, retrieved from the floor of the throne room back in the palace, and everyone began preparing their gear for the expedition.

Every head turned as a loud slap filled the air. Matthew stumbled back, and Sveta moved swiftly to rejoin the team.

"Apparently, I am not allowed to join you," Sveta said with a venomous, fake smile. Her voice dripped with sarcasm. "It is far too dangerous for a weak woman like me in that big, scary city. I am ever so lucky to have a wondrous knight in shining armor to fight all of my battles for me, while I wait desperately for word of whether or not he will return alive."

"Wait, what?" Isaac said. "Matthew, get over here. What the hell are you talking about?"

Sveta continued as Matthew walked solemnly back to the gathering, a large red mark already beginning to show on his cheek.

"He is worried I will be killed," she said. "I mean, we have each risked our lives for each other on many occasions. But he would apparently prefer that I remain here, out of harm's reach. And he apparently does not feel that my opinion has any merit in this case."

"Felix," Matthew asked, "in the prison, there's a system that reacts when it detects psynergy by draining it. It's the reason Sveta nearly died. It's a Tuaparang design, isn't it?"

Felix nodded. "There'll probably be a lot like it, and worse. Sorry, Sveta, but I agree with Matthew. It's just not safe for you over there. The same methods they'd use to incapacitate us would just kill you outright, and it's not exactly something they'd be holding back on using."

She sneered fiercely.

"Fine," she said, "I will stay here with Ivan, then. I will help him track down Karis. And then I will wait in our hotel room, Matthew, and if you do return alive, I will have some choice words for you."

"If you can shout at me, it means you're still breathing. I can live with that."

"You had _best_ live with that_._"

"Glad everything's cleared up!" Felix interrupted. "You can sort the rest out later. We should get going while we still have the element of..."

He paused.

"Ivan, what happened to Caudgel?" he asked. "You fought her alone, right? You're still alive, so she obviously didn't defeat you, but... did you manage to finish her?"

He shook his head. "She got away. Sorry. But it won't be a big deal, right?"

"Not a big deal? Oh, crap. Ivan, I would have loved to have heard this earlier."

"What's wrong?" Jenna asked. "It's not like she can cause us any harm right now, wherever she is-"

"She knows the clearing where I landed the airship. If she ran away, she probably made a beeline for it. That means..." Felix's eyes widened. "Shit. Shit, shit, shit. Okay, something very important just occurred to me. Time is seriously of the essence now, and we have to assume that the airship isn't an option anymore. Ideas. Quick."

"We brought an airship too," Isaac said. "It's a little banged up, but it was in working order when it landed."

Felix nodded. "Lead on. If anyone else has anything to do, do it quickly. We have to leave immediately. I'll explain on the way. Ivan, Sveta, good luck on your search. Be careful if you run into Mia. Everybody else, follow Isaac."

"Right."

If Caudgel had found the airship, that meant that she had found Karst. So... Karst was either headed back to Tuaparang to be re-imprisoned, or already dead. Neither option seemed very appealing.

The prospect of discussing Karst with the rest of the group did not seem appealing either.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Bleh, shortest chapter ever. It's been a busy few days though and I had to get something out for the deadline... Next chapter is on Sept 24/25, same deal as usual. I promise it'll be much, much longer._

_Special thanks to Pr Kaos for pointing out that I had apparently overwritten Chapter 10 with Chapter 8 at some point. Special thanks also to Deviantart, because if I hadn't started uploading chapters there too, I would have had to literally rewrite the chapter from scratch because I don't tend to keep backups. I only put 1-20 up there originally, but now I'm working to add the entire archive just in case this ever happens again._

_Heh. In the author's notes for chapter 27 I said "we're definitely past the halfway point now." Yeeeeep, whatever you say._

_Thanks for the positive feedback on the OCs, by the way. While it's true that every character is an OC at some point, I feel like it's important to tread lightly in that direction anyway. People come to to read about characters they already know and appreciate. Writing an OC-heavy story here is sort of like if you worked at an ice cream shop, and someone orders a scoop of chocolate, but you give them a scoop of strawberry instead. Sure, there's nothing wrong with strawberry, but they ordered chocolate, dammit. It's not fair to pull that shit. _

_Review responses:_

_JamesK716: What do you mean? Plot development's been happening all over the place. They just sacked Bilibin's corrupt dictator, who went on to kidnap like 4 people (well, 2 were willing, but they were still abducted). It's true that this is the first hint of the endgame in a little while, but I've been advancing plot threads left and right. I'll even tie up a few soon enough._

_Avatar of Wurms: I find it kind of frustrating in the GS games how the only people who ever do anything good or important are Adepts. What, are regular people worthless or something? It's an idea I want to look at in the future, but for now I'll settle for one of the Generals being a regular human that can beat any of the Warriors of Vale in a fair fight using only a butterfly knife and her wits._

_Pr Kaos: Yep! You're supposed to wonder why Caudgel's being so open. She noticed that she was having trouble keeping her guard up, and Maddie was wondering where the infodump came from too. There is a reason for this._

_Waypoint: I actually regret my portrayal of Mia early on. I'm happy with brainwashed!Mia the way she is – she's just the right mix of bloodthirsty, unreasonable and misguided for what I'm aiming for. But normal!Mia, I imagine, is much more of a sweet, altruistic healer who happens to have a sarcastic streak. If I get the chance to show that side of her, I will. It'd be a nice change of pace._


	56. On the Air

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

For the first time in almost a day, Sveta was glad to have considered Karis a friend once.

Tracking her scent, even when it wasn't fresh, was simple. Sveta could pick out Karis's smell in the middle of a massive crowd a day after the fact, especially with the benefits her Jupiter psynergy provided. At night, in empty streets, there was no challenge whatsoever.

At first she thought she had made some mistake, though. Karis seemed to be going around in circles, or at least wandering aimlessly. Then, all of a sudden, her path took a sharp turn to the west.

With Ivan following closely behind, Sveta had to resist the urge to bound off in that direction. But it meant Karis was going somewhere. Her scent was less concentrated, which meant she had spent less time in the area – so she was moving faster, and that meant she actually had an objective.

Sveta was dying to find out what it was. Her curiosity only increased when she found the path leading out of the city.

About a minute after they passed the city walls, she heard a noise. A sort of low buzz, coming from nowhere in particular.

Looking up at the sky, she saw a moving pair of blinking lights. For an instant, she thought it might be a shooting star; a coincidence, perhaps? But then she saw its silhouette pass in front of the moon, and there could be no mistake. It was the airship that the others had boarded.

"Do you see that?" Sveta asked. "Please take note of the direction it is travelling in. I do not know where Tuaparang is, only that it is north of Imil."

When she heard no answer, she turned to look around. Ivan was a good distance away. She had lost track of her own speed and run off without him. Shoot.

She hurried back to meet him.

"Those lights!" she said. "That must be Matthew and the others! Tuaparang must be in that direction!"

"What lights?" Ivan asked quizzically as he stopped to catch his breath. He had been running full-out, but Sveta was naturally more athletic, and his short legs hadn't done him any favors.

"Those... the..."

When she looked again, she couldn't distinguish them among the stars.

"Well, they were going that way!" she cried. "Somewhere in that direction! Please remember it!"

Ivan glanced vaguely northward, in the direction Sveta was indicating.

"...Why do you need to know where Tuaparang is?" Ivan asked. "Why does that matter to you?"

"So that I can follow them, obviously!"

Ivan said nothing.

Sveta blushed.

Crickets chirped.

"So you weren't just coming along so you could make amends with my daughter."

Sveta looked at her feet guiltily. "...No," she admitted. "It is because Karis is smarter than I am, and she might be able to think of a way to follow them, and with you there she is less likely to say no, and... and she _owes_ me."

"Sveta, I appreciate your help, for whatever the reason," Ivan replied, "but I agree with them. It's not safe for you over there."

"It is not safe for any of them!"

"You'll die in agony."

"If I get the chance to help them in the process, it will be worth it!"

"No," Ivan said. "If you get caught in one of those traps, even for a second, you'll be useless for the rest of the encounter. You'll be dead weight. And if Matthew sees you in that kind of pain, he'll take stupid risks to save you. If you go, you might kill him. Think of that."

Sveta glowered at Ivan.

"Or I might not be caught in a trap. And while we are dealing with hypotheticals, Matthew may face off against the High Empyror on his own, with no one at his side, until I spring in by surprise, taking the villain from behind at a crucial moment and saving my mate's life. The point is-"

"...Your mate?"

"-THE POINT IS, I wish to be there, and damn the risks."

Ivan rolled his eyes. "First off, you've been dating for a week-"

"It has been an exceedingly eventful week!"

"Alright, I'll grant you that. But perhaps you should talk it over with him first before you start going around calling him your 'mate.'"

Sveta folded her arms defiantly.

"Furthermore," Ivan said, "you still need to have this talk with Karis. It's incredibly important for both of you. Who knows? Maybe if you get a better understanding of what happened, it'll help heal some of the emotional scars."

Sveta put a paw to her chin and turned away.

"Let us make a deal then," she said. "I will help you hunt for Karis, as I already have. I will... I will _try_ to make amends with her. For you. Because you asked. And in return, both of you will help me get to Tuaparang to support the others."

Ivan sighed. "I'll get you to Tuaparang, but once we make sure everyone's okay, I'm taking you straight to the airship, which is where you'll stay until our business is finished. Deal?"

Sveta glared at him. She balled up her fists tightly enough that Ivan heard them crack.

"Fine," she said. "Deal."

She indicated outward, away from the city, and began walking in that direction. "Karis was heading this way, and quite quickly. She must have been walking with some purpose. It is possible that she found Mia."

Ivan nodded and hurried after her. She was much more careful about her speed this time.

About 10 minutes later, Sveta stopped abruptly.

"Something wrong?" Ivan asked.

Sveta bent down and picked something up off the ground.

"Her sword," Sveta said. "Her trail ends around here. I am not sure why."

Sveta tossed the rapier to Ivan, who caught it and stared at it with some alarm. She then moved on, sniffing the air for any sign of her quarry.

She found some strange patterns in the grass, where it had been stamped down in a regular pattern. She could not identify the reason, but she indicated it to Ivan as well. He hurried over and began examining the area.

Then Sveta caught another whiff.

She followed her nose a short distance away and began searching in the grass.

"It's from an airship," Ivan said definitively behind her. "These are from the landing gear. Well... probably. I haven't really been able to inspect landing gear up-close, since our airship sort of had to go without..."

"An airship?" Sveta asked. "To whom do you think it belonged? Was it Felix's?"

Ivan snapped his fingers. "Maybe that's it! Maybe Karis found Mia, who was returning to the airship she arrived in... or something."

Sveta noticed a gleam of light in the grass. She wrapped her fingers around the object, and stood straight upward.

"...There was a dispute," she announced.

She turned toward Ivan, who came closer to inspect what she had found. He stowed the rapier in his belt as well as he could, and then extended a hand for the new evidence.

"This was hers," Sveta said.

Ivan took the object, tilting his head questioningly. "A knife?" he asked. "Why would Karis carry a knife? I've never known her to..."

"Not the knife," Sveta answered emotionlessly. "The blood."

Ivan looked closer. All the blood drained from his face, and Sveta could practically hear his heart rate increase.

"Do you perhaps wish to go to Tuaparang now?" Sveta asked.

* * *

An uneasy peace had come upon the cockpit in the aftermath of the Apollo Lens' second firing. Neither Caudgel nor Maddie had spoken since, and Mia had returned to the back to keep an eye on Karst and Karis. Every so often, Caudgel would press a button or examine a screen on the dashboard. Maddie simply looked out the window and gripped the handrests as if letting go would drop her out the bottom of the craft.

At once, Caudgel cleared her throat.

"We're nearly there," she said. "Just another few minutes, maybe."

Maddie nodded. "Alright, great."

The wind whistled by outside. The propellers hummed. The airship rocked very slightly.

"I'm kind of looking forward to hearing what it was that he did," Caudgel continued. "Any ideas?"

Maddie shook her head. "Nope."

The needles in the dashboard gauges wavered as usual. One of the screens flashed, and a message appeared, which Caudgel examined, and then pushed a button to dismiss. Silence reigned once more.

"...So... do you think your family will be at all concerned that you up and vanished overnight?"

Maddie shrugged. "That's not really a concern."

"Oh?" Caudgel asked. "Why not?"

"Because both of my parents died quite recently. I'm taking care of my half-brother for now, but I've got some family from his side coming down from Border Town shortly. They'll be taking care of him until he's old enough to move out. I've only got myself to be responsible for."

"Ah," the older woman said. "Sorry to hear about your parents. I lost mine in the Golden Sun event, so I don't really remember them well enough for them to matter, but... well, being an orphan isn't all bad. You've got the freedom to do whatever you want, now, and if that includes joining the Tuaparang, then there's nobody around to make you feel guilty, right?"

Maddie shrugged. She turned away in case the ache in her heart was showing itself in her expression.

"Right. Guilt," she said. "That's no issue for me, really."

"Perfect! That'll be useful in the long run, believe me. And you're signing up with us, so you'll have a new family, so to speak. You'll forget those parents of yours before you know it."

"...Yeah..." Maddie croaked.

She felt tears welling up behind her eyes. Her throat began to close up, and she started breathing heavily as memories flooded into her mind of all the good times, and all the bad...

No. Can't do that here. Bad, BAD idea. Change the subject.

"I, uh... ahem." She cleared her throat. "Yeah. So, what'll we do when we get there-"

"Wait, you said half-brother?" Caudgel interrupted. "What's the story about that? Is one of his parents among the people taking him back to Border Town?"

"Oh. Umm..." Maddie hadn't intended to make the half-brother comment out loud, but perhaps since she had been trying to distance herself from the subject... "Actually, he's an orphan. I might technically not be."

"Oh?"

"Well, I mean... I still consider my parents to be, y'know, _my parents,_ but..." Maddie shrugged. "I was born out of wedlock. My biological mom sort of dumped me with my dad, and then ran off somewhere. I don't know a thing about her."

"Do you think you'll ever meet her?"

"No..."

"Then she's irrelevant," Caudgel said. "Forget about her. I know you're probably wondering how life might've been different if she'd been around, but questions like that will only hold you back. I spent years wishing my parents had survived, but that didn't help me one bit. You're on your own now, and trust me, you'll learn to love it. It's an incredible feeling, knowing that the only person who can decide your morals for you is you, yourself."

Maddie shuddered. She nodded quickly. "...'Kay," she answered weakly. Part of her acknowledged that maybe she should be memorizing these little tidbits that Caudgel was dropping all over the place – parental issues? Oh, so exploitable! - but it was taking all she had not to break down in tears.

The facade she was wearing was that of a cool, confident woman, not a nervous wreck.

"I... ah, sorry," Caudgel said. "I'm not used to teenagers. Sorry if I'm being a little harsh. We can stop talking about your family if you want, I can understand if it's tough for you-"

"...Whatever."

"Umm, alright. Well, when we arrive at the city in a few minutes, I'll try to make it up to you," she continued. "As a guest of one of the last Generals, you'll be subject to certain privileges. I'll make sure you have adequate sleeping quarters, and you'll have access to plenty of the perks that only high-level officers get. I understand that you'll be needing new clothes, for example..."

Maddie shrugged. "Yeah... thanks," she said.

The trip concluded in silence.

* * *

Felix had not been impressed with the state of Isaac's airship.

It was still flyable. Everything worked fine. But the lack of any landing gear meant that it probably wouldn't survive the next landing, the damaged weapons systems and defences meant that they would be sitting ducks if the Tuaparang forces realized they were a threat, and the caved-in co-pilot's side of the cockpit meant that the airship was about as aerodynamic as a brick, and handled like a two-legged horse.

At least Rief had been able to provide him with some anti-nauseant boosters. It was refreshing to be able to keep his lunch down while flying for once.

With no co-pilot's chair, Felix was alone in the front. He could hear muted speech coming from the cabin behind him, where Isaac, Jenna, Matthew, Garet, Tyrell and Rief were waiting anxiously. It brought back fond memories of his adventures 30 years ago, and he idly wondered what Sheba and Piers were up to. He hadn't seen them in ages.

Everyone had changed since he left, and yet everyone had stayed the same. Ivan was still just as weird as he remembered, Garet still as thickheaded (and how!), and Isaac was still decisive, socially awkward... and a bit of a dick.

And Isaac had married Felix's sister.

He wasn't sure what he thought about that.

The crush Jenna had had on Isaac was obvious throughout their adventures. Felix remembered, with some amusement, when Sheba had brought it up, thinking them an official couple. In retrospect, it did seem a little strange that Sheba had made that connection so quickly... perhaps it was related to her foresight talents? Maybe she already had an inkling, then, that Isaac and Jenna would end up together. Felix might've done things differently, and perhaps gotten to know Isaac a little better instead of dismissing him as he had.

Even atop the final Lighthouse, Felix's team and Isaac's team were somewhat segregated, having thought each other to be enemies for so long. There had been ties forged, of course – Sheba and Ivan got along famously, for example – but overall, the two groups still thought of themselves as two groups.

Too late to change that, maybe. Who knew? They were all ageless, or near-enough. Maybe they'd get to know each other better as the centuries ticked on.

But there was no time like the present to start working on that.

Felix stood up from his chair and opened the cabin door.

"Isaac?" he called. "Would you mind coming in here for a minute? There's some stuff I want to talk about."

Isaac nodded. He had probably seen this coming. It was only a matter of time, really; Felix had always been defensive when it came to his sister.

Isaac excused himself, closed the door behind him, and stood awkwardly in the cramped cockpit.

"Sorry, I'd offer you a seat," Felix said, "but I doubt that one would be very comfortable."

"Yeah, sorry. Ivan and I really did a number on it. We sort of threw a tree at it. I'm just glad it's in one piece, really."

"Yeah."

Felix checked his instruments to make sure that they were still on course, and set the controls so that he could ignore them for a short while. Then he turned to face Isaac.

"So," he said, "you and Jenna."

Isaac scratched the back of his head. "...Yeah. I, uh, would've spoken to you about it if you were around."

"Not that it would have mattered. If she had her sights set on you, nobody could've stood in her way, not even me. It was her choice to make, not mine."

"Yeah... that's Jenna, alright."

Isaac leaned against the wrecked co-pilot's chair. "I guess you were surprised to find me with her, considering how things were between Mia and I when you left..."

"Mia and I spoke," Felix said. "She told me what happened, so it wasn't that big of a deal when I saw you and Jenna together for the first time. Mia also told me about the source of tension, shall we say, in your current relationship. Mia couldn't give a definitive answer about what her side in everything was, though. She said she couldn't remember."

Isaac cursed. "Well, we're going to Tuaparang anyway. If they did something about it, they'll have all the records, and we'll be able to get the truth from them. It's disappointing that Mia couldn't give her side, though. One of the big mysteries about this whole thing is the fact that Jenna's and my versions of events are so vastly different."

"That'd be Chalis's intrusion," Felix said. "She loves using her delusion perfume. That stuff tends to mess with memories a little – it's likely that each of you has one true fragment of the story, but your minds filled in the rest incorrectly based on that fragment. So, I dunno, maybe Jenna remembers getting upset, and you remember doing something completely innocent... I really can't say."

Isaac smiled. "Thanks for giving me the benefit of the doubt. I know that I would never, ever cheat on Jenna intentionally. If Chalis manipulated me, though..."

"Well, Caudgel was telling the truth about Chalis only being able to amplify or weaken existing emotions. But it didn't necessarily have to be love or lust," Felix said. "Maybe she just gave Jenna's jealous anger a bit of a kick-start. Who knows? I'm just as hopeful that you were innocent as you are."

"Yeah..." Isaac said. "Thanks."

Felix leaned back in his chair. "How's your son, Matthew? My, uh, nephew, I guess. That'll take some getting used to."

"He's fine," Isaac answered. "A little distant, but who can blame him? Sveta was really mad at him. Those two are a little sickeningly sweet together. This might be their first fight."

Felix snickered. "Oh, is that so? They've been together for how long now?"

"A week."

"Geez..." Felix sighed. "I hope it turns out well. I'm not a great judge of these things. I honestly don't have much experience when it comes to, uh, traditional relationships."

"Oh?"

"Proxians show affection quite differently from the rest of us."

"...Oh."

Isaac shuffled his feet uncomfortably.

"...I'm sorry about Karst, Felix," he said.

Felix waved his concerns away. "She's still alive. She can't move from the waist down, but she's alive. And you were acting in self-defense. Whenever she brings it up, I take your side as often as it's safe to."

"...So you're still together?"

Felix hesitated.

"In the interest of full disclosure," he said, "that's part of the reason I wanted to get going so badly. Mia was not the only person I brought back from Tuaparang."

"Oh. Oh, shit."

"Precisely. Karst was, uh, sedated when we left her," Felix said half-truthfully. "But if the airship's been taken – and I didn't see it when we flew past the landing site – then that means Karst is either dead, or she's been kidnapped again. Now that I've left the Tuaparang, they don't have much use for her as a motivational tool. If she's still alive, she won't be for long."

Isaac sighed. He folded his arms and looked out the window.

"...Sounds rough," he said noncommittally.

"Yeah. Rough," Felix said. "She still wants you dead, by the way. That hasn't changed."

"Didn't think it would."

"I'll do my best to keep her from acting against the rest of you, but I want you to understand that her survival is one of my priorities," Felix admitted. "I won't expect any of you to help me with it. In fact, it'd probably be safer if you didn't. But if I get the chance to go after her, I'll take it. I hope you'll understand."

Isaac nodded empathetically. "I do. If it were Jenna in that situation, then..." He caught himself. "Sorry, that probably sounds a little weird to you. But I know what it's like to care about someone that strongly. Do what you have to, and I'll back you up."

"...I appreciate it, Isaac," Felix said. "I'm glad we had this conversation."

Isaac nodded. He moved back to the door and put his hand on the knob.

"Isaac?"

He turned his head back.

"You're a good man," Felix said. "I'm... alright that she went with you."

Isaac smiled.

He opened the door and rejoined the rest of the group, leaving Felix to pilot the airship in peace.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_I'm really sorry, again, about phoning in that last chapter as hard as I did. But I committed to an update schedule, and when it was 2am and I had work in 4 hours and I wasn't awake enough to be able to continue the story, I decided to just put it up there. So, sorry I didn't have a chance to work on it before that night. Just a quick question: would you rather I update frequently, or would you rather I put up more substantial chapters? Like, if it was up to you, would you have asked me to wait a day and finish it up the next night, or were you happy with the way it worked?_

_Next chapter should go up on the 27th/28th, as usual. I'm kind of looking forward to the final scenery change... should be lots of action coming soon. Not next chapter, exactly, but soon._

_Review responses:_

_CreationsGoneAwry: Piers and Sheba will not appear in this story, nor will Eoleo or Himi. Amiti's going to have a paragraph or so in the epilogue though, I think, and Piers and Sheba will both have fairly important roles in the stories that come after DoJ._

_JamesK716: I will admit that I hadn't planned on them staying in Bilibin for as long as they did – it was originally going to be more of a three-act thing, with Bilibin in the middle and Tuaparang at the end, even though Tuaparang's going to be pretty short now – but I feel like there was enough plot and character development to justify it. _

_[noname]: ...You want me to write a chapter about Matthew and Sveta having "fun" in the hotel room? Okay, fine. This is outside normal continuity because they won't be getting back to the room any time soon. But I assure you it will be ALL KINDS of "fun."_

* * *

Back in the hotel room at Bilibin, Matthew and Sveta were just sort of sitting on the bed, chillin'. Neither of them really knew how they got there, but they didn't care. Nobody was around and the door was locked, so obviously they were all up in each others' business. Making out, I mean. They were making out.

So they stopped making out for a second, and Sveta sort of pulled away and gave Matthew a serious, intense look.

"I believe it is time we took our relationship to the next level," she said quickly and nervously.

Matthew's eyes widened in shock, surprise, and a little bit of excitement. Frankly, he would've loved to do this ages ago, but he was worried about what she'd say if he suggested it.

"Really?" he asked. "Are you serious?"

She nodded. She breathed heavily as she began to remove his jacket.

"Did you bring protection?" she asked.

Matthew nodded. He climbed off the bed and he opened up his pack. But before he took anything out, he glanced back at her.

"Are you sure you want to do this?" he said. "If you want to back out, we don't have to tonight-"

"I believe we are ready," Sveta replied. "And... and I want to. More than anything."

Matthew nodded.

He took out his baseball and catcher's mitt.

He shook the ball in the air once, twice, three times.

Sveta's eyes followed it urgently. She crawled across the floor, slowly and seductively, sitting in front of him and begging for his ball.

"Ready?" he asked.

She nodded in anticipation.

He tossed the ball across the room. "Gogeddit!"

Sveta charged across the intervening space, her twin braids flying chaotically as she moved. She hopped in the air just a little to grab the baseball in her mouth before it collided with anything. But with all of her momentum, she was unable to stop herself from colliding with the dresser in the room.

She whimpered in pain for just a moment.

"Are you alright?" Matthew asked. "Do you want to stop?"

Sveta shook her head, bounding back over before dropping the ball at his feet and wiggling her butt excitedly (as she did not have a tail outside of beastform). Matthew bent down and scratched her head.

"That's a good kittydog," he cooed. "Awwwww. Dassagoodkeetydaaawwwg."

Sveta licked his hand in appreciation.

* * *

_I hope you're happy. That's all you're gonna get in a T-rated story._


	57. Anathema

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Mt Aleph had once been a beautiful, fertile region. Vale, nestled at its base, was a utopia. Trees and grass grew greener than anywhere else. Animals frolicked and thrived. Peace and harmony reigned.

Now Vale was gone, and Mt Aleph was a desolate, volcanic wasteland.

The Golden Sun dealt the first blow, destroying everything in the area and leaving nought but a crater. Ten years later, a massive psynergy vortex known as the Mourning Moon appeared, draining what life remained from the region and sowing terror across Weyard.

Ten years after that, a second Mourning Moon occurred.

Ten years further still, in the aftermath of the Grave Eclipse, a third plagued the skies.

This last vortex was nowhere near as dreadful as the previous two had been. While the others had been nightmarish, chaotic harbingers of death and destruction, the final Mourning Moon was merely a dark sphere, floating in space. It absorbed all light and all life, but it never overstepped its bounds, and it never tried to extend its reach.

It was content. It was perfect.

And it was all that was necessary to complete the Empyror's greatest experiment.

The Third Mourning Moon was no more, but Mt Aleph would never recover from the injustices inflicted upon it. Its soil would yield no grass, its barren surface provided no solace or shelter. Without a doubt, it would be centuries or more before even a fraction of the mountain's former glory was restored.

But at its peak still sat one notable being, neither natural nor altogether benevolent.

Many of Weyard's inhabitants would be familiar with the elemental beings known as Djinn, with their beautiful, flowing forms, inspired by the forces they were irreversibly tied to. Their skin was formed of interlocking plates, smooth and irregular, and their eyes were glowing gemstones possessed of an unmistakeable intelligence.

Even a seasoned veteran would look upon this new being and hesitate to call it a Djinn. It was a mockery of nature, all sharp, jagged lines. Its matte white surface looked mass-produced, as if carved grudgingly by a master craftsman as a favor to a spoiled nephew. Its single eye was black as pitch, and its surface did not so much reflect the world around it as it turned it back and denied it.

The Djinni of Light, the Sol Djinni, watched the approaching airship with a sort of condescending curiosity. When the door opened and two figures stepped out, it performed no action, waiting for the newcomers to make the first move.

"Would you look at this, Chalis!" the Empyror exclaimed. "It worked! It worked BEAUTIFULLY! All it took was a stable vortex. It's so obvious in retrospect. Shame we had to screw it up twice before figuring it out, but I was young and stupid, I suppose. Hello there, creature! We come in peace. What's your name?"

The Djinni cocked its head, or rather, it slowly shifted the uppermost mass to one side.

"Your name, friend," the man repeated. "This is my sister Chalis, and I am the High Empyror of Tuaparang. We wish to form an alliance, of sorts. Will you deal?"

Though the Djinni had no mouth, and indeed, made no physical indication that it was speaking, all those in earshot knew, without knowing how, who spoke the words. Its voice was a sort of tinny, high-pitched thing, echoing softly in the minds of those who heard it, much like the voices of its natural bretheren. But the Djinni of Light was not a friendly sort. It would not give the benefit of the doubt. It looked down upon all creation. It knew its listener, and found it wanting.

"**I was born with knowledge, human, knowledge of several unshakeable facts. The first is that I should not be. I should never have been. You made me, and in doing so defied the natural order of the world itself; that has earned you some respect in my eyes. I thank you for your gift of life, accidental and foolishly though it may have been granted.**

"**The second is that as an artificial elemental, I am greater than my natural kin. The world brought them about as a matter of course; I was forced into existence, sculpted to perfection, and thus my edge is sharper than any of theirs. This 'alliance' you speak of would make you the single most powerful being on the planet. But you must earn it.**

"**For the third fact I know to be true is that I am destined for greatness. I am superior. And I will not settle for any associate that cannot match me in raw talent. If you would have my assistance, you must prove you are worthy of it. Face me in combat. Alone. You may bear none of my kin, for they are a crutch. If you cannot defeat me without their aid, you are not worth even the dignity of my gaze."**

Chalis folded her arms uncomfortably, and shivered. "Brother, are you sure about this?"

The Empyror smiled.

"I like the cut of his jib," he said. "Chalis, how many Djinn do you have on you right now?"

"Twenty-five Mars," she replied. "But you don't mean to-"

"I'll make it an even fifty, then. I didn't come this far so I could be sent home by a scary voice."

Almost carelessly, he pressed his hand against his sister's shoulder. Several rapid red pulses could be seen emanating between them as the Empyror transferred all of his homegrown Djinn to Chalis. Her concerned expression only deepened as he swaggered forward, clad only in his robe and casual clothes, and armed only with a sword, a pair of dark gauntlets, and his own innate Mars-borne talents.

"If you can sense it, you'll be able to see that I don't have any Djinn on me anymore," the Empyror declared. "It's just you and me, now. Unless you were hoping I would fight without a sword too, Mr...?"

"**My name is Halo, and I am a Djinni of Light, most likely the first and last you shall ever meet. You may carry your sword; your race's reliance on science and technology is laughable, but you are still technically facing me alone. I will allow you the boon of equipment. Likewise, I will allow you to make the first move. Prepare yourself, and strike when ready."**

"How generous," the Empyror said sarcastically. "Chalis, stand back. This won't take long."

"But brother-"

"Trust me, sister. When have I ever let you down?"

Privately, he was just glad that the Djinni had let him keep his gauntlets. They performed several purposes, one of which was that they amplified his psynergy far beyond his already-impressive natural abilities. He was going to need all the help he could get, and being forced to drop his Djinn already took his confidence level down a notch.

He stared Halo down, taking up his battle stance. He placed one steel-clad hand on the hilt of his dark longsword, sheathed at his hip, and held the other outward, palm open.

The High Empyror took several deep breaths.

And then he drew his hand back, and as he threw it back outward, he summoned three massive orbs of fire with it.

Even as the fireballs flew unerringly toward the Djinni, the Empyror let his hand's momentum carry through, and as it swung out to his side, he reversed its movement and brought it forward again. This time, three smaller beads of concentrated light were thrown outward toward his target.

As his hand drew back, he gritted his teeth. He summoned all of his strength, and then threw his hand out again. This time, a solid ray of heat shot out from his palm, and he held it steady, with enough energy to cook even a dragon where it stood-

There was a flash of bright light.

The world seemed to take on a monochrome tone, as if all the color had been sucked away.

Chalis could not move, or speak, or even breathe. She was frozen.

The Empyror, too, was utterly still.

"**Your enthusiasm is commendable,"** Halo said. **"But your efforts are futile."**

Halo hopped forward on its misshapen-yet-perfect feet, gazing at the barrage the Empyror had sent forth. It gave a condescending glance first toward the fireballs, watching their arc, and stepped just to the side.

There was a flash of light. The three fireballs zipped toward their mark, now minus the original target, and impacted the ground violently, tearing chunks from Mt Aleph's peak and leaving dark scorch marks.

Next, Halo turned its gaze upon the beads of flame. It approached them, and without a second thought, nudged each of them slightly with its body. There was another flash.

Each bead flew rapidly in random directions, exploding harmlessly in the open. The blastwave could be felt a moment later as the compressed, heated air searched desperately for a place to go.

The Sol Djinni looked at last upon the heat ray emanating from the Empyror's hand. The Djinni was nowhere near the path it had been travelling in, and if Halo wanted to, he could simply have unfrozen it and forgotten about it; the beam attack had failed. But Halo had a point to make.

He allowed time to resume its course, and then glowed silently with psynergy as a column of brilliant light filled the sky, landing directly in the path of the Empyror's Searing Beam. The beam and the column did not affect each other in any way, but the width and force of the column of light made the mighty Mars psynergy look worthless by comparison.

The Empyror frowned as his hand dropped.

"**I cannot be defeated by mundane means,"** Halo said, **"and you humans are as mundane as they come. If that was truly your greatest effort, then you were doomed from the start. Cherish your last precious moments."**

A point of light appeared in the air before the Empyror's eyes. He could feel sharp twinges of pain all over his face as the light intensified. He felt his skin burn hotter and hotter, and though it stung his eyes to look, he found that he could not tear his gaze away as he stared into eternity-

"And they say _I_ have an overinflated ego!" the Empyror cried.

He tore his blade from its sheath and swung it through the horrifying light. The sword, black as night, glowed purple for an instant as the Djinni's attack was absorbed, and the Empyror paused only to blink and shake his head before carrying his strike forward.

He held his sword point-first, about two feet from Halo's head, but the effect was already unmistakeable. The blade glowed dimly.

Halo roared as it shrank back from the weapon.

"**Treachery! Blasphemy! Anathema!"** it cried. **"Inconceivable! How dare you create such a weapon, such a... a defiler of psynergy itself? Put it away! I command you, human, put it away and destroy it-"**

"You like it?" the High Empyror asked. "I call it the Mage Masher. It works wonders against Adepts, but it looks like Djinni like you aren't too fond of it, either. It drains psynergy by touch, and even manages to sap it just by being nearby. Normally it'd affect me too, but... well, I can hardly call myself a genius if I don't design a countermeasure, can I?"

"**Just keep it away from me! Get it out of my sight!"**

"Do I win?"

"**Hardly-"**

"A shame," the Empyror said. "I guess I'll just have to run you through with it then. I always wondered how a Djinni would react to contact with it-"

"**NO!"** Halo cried. **"Fine. You won, though it was through illegitimate means. Just... just _put it away,_ damn you-"**

"And leave me open to another one of your time freezes? No thanks," he said. "You'll have to set yourself to me. It's the only option."

"**Not while you are touching the blade! Never, ever-"**

"Firstly, I've learned by observation that set Djinn are unaffected by the sword. Secondly, these gauntlets shield me from its effects anyway, which is how I managed to use psynergy in our skirmish. Come along, now, don't be shy."

Halo simply stared at the Empyror. Its inhuman expression was unreadable.

His Highness sighed, and lowered the blade until its tip touched the ground. He leaned on it casually, and gave Halo an affable smile.

"You were just defeated by the very same technology that you just badmouthed. None of your 'natural talents' could hold a candle, pardon the pun, to the potential that science wields. I studied the Jenei's theories on Sol Psynergy, and prepared my own hypotheses. I knew that you would possess some control over time. And I knew that your cockiness would be your undoing. For all your power, you haven't been alive long enough to have a Plan B in case your psynergy failed."

The Empyror threw his empty hand out in an aloof wave. "You want to be great? You want to be superior? Then side with me. I beat you. I'll beat _everyone_. Because I always have a Plan B. And a Plan C. And a Plan D. Stick with me, and you can learn from me. We'll make each other stronger, and together we'll be unstoppable. So what do you think?" he asked, suddenly offering a handshake. "Allies?"

Halo shifted where it stood. Its stance could not be described as uneasiness, but uncertainty might not have been far from the truth.

"**...You acquit yourself well, human,"** it said. **"Very well. I will grant you my power, for now. Prove to me that you can use it well, and our arrangement may yet last. My rules are simple.**

**"You may not use any other Djinn while I am with you. They are weak, foolish beings, and I will not associate with them. My power is more than great enough to make up the difference. Additionally, if you disappoint me enough that I feel it prudent to leave you, I shall, and there is nothing you may do to stop me. Finally, I will be able to communicate with you at any time I desire. I cannot control you, obviously, but if I make it clear that there is something I need, it is in your best interests to grant me my boon."**

"I have no problem with this," the Empyror said. "I look forward to working with you."**  
**

It touched the Empyror's hand, and with a final flash of pure, brilliant sun, Halo vanished.

His Highness sheathed his weapon and clenched the fist that had touched the Djinni of Light. He raised his eyebrows in surprise.

"Fascinating," he said. "Truly fascinating."

"Coming, Chalis?"

Chalis whirled to see her brother standing a few steps behind her, a smug smile across his features, even as he panted heavily from some unknown exertion.

"But... how?" she stammered. "You... you were..."

"I still am," the Empyror said, pointing to the other side of the battlefield. There he still stood, staring at his hand... and yet here he was. He was in two places at once.

"I'll come along in a bit," he continued. "I'll practice my new Time and Light talents for a good ten minutes or so, and then I'll skip back to what you see as the present. I'm a little disappointed, actually... I didn't go back as far as I would have liked. I wanted to watch the fight. I'll need to work harder before I can do it reliably, too... it takes a lot out of you."

"That's why you look so exhausted?"

"Yeah. I'm completely tapped," the Empyror replied. "Would you mind flying home? I need a nap."

The distant Empyror turned back toward the airship and jumped in shock. His future-twin smiled and waved, then turned and entered the airship cabin.

Chalis paused. She didn't know whether to follow, or wait for the man she knew for sure was her brother. She looked at the man in the distance and shrugged.

When THAT Empyror waved her off, she acquiesced, saluting him and then making her way to the cockpit. She hit the button to seal the cabin door.

"Did you want your Djinn back now?" Chalis called. "Twenty-five was good, more than enough to beat any of the Warriors one-on-one-"

"Trust me, Chalis," a voice from the front interrupted, "with this Djinn alone, I'm already far better equipped than you. And he's a fussy one anyway. He just told me he wouldn't work with any others."

Her brother was already sitting in the co-pilot's chair... her future-brother, rather... and... and...

"I'm sorry, this is all very confusing," Chalis said. "So, he'll... _you'll_... be alright?"

The Empyror shrugged. "Apparently," he said, "though I still haven't tried setting up a time paradox yet. That'll have to wait until we get home. It's probably safe to assume that he's just me from ten minutes ago, and he'll follow the same path that I did to reach the present. So yes, we'll be alright. Can we take off, please?"

Chalis rubbed her temples. She could already see that this would be a source of headaches for the near future.

The airship took to the sky, heading to Tuaparang in the north. As it flew, Chalis looked back to see several flashes of magical, destructive light. Her brother smirked triumphantly as her jaw dropped at the sight.

"And that's just the warm-up!" he declared before closing his eyes and getting comfortable in his seat. "You haven't seen anything yet."

* * *

"Okay, calm down," Ivan told himself. "Nothing to be worried about. Just... a knife with Karis's blood on it. Doesn't mean she's dead, doesn't mean she's dying."

"I smell more of it over here," Sveta offered. "My guess is that there was a lot of bleeding for a short period, because the scent is strong, but evenly diffused."

Ivan swallowed. "Okay, lots of bleeding. My... my daughter was bleeding a lot for a short period. Alright, Sveta, do your magic nose-senses tell you whether or not she survived?"

"No," Sveta said with a roll of her eyes. "But what I can tell you for sure is that Mia was here, probably for a great deal of time. I know her scent; it is similar to Rief's, but without the fear and occasional urine-"

"Thank you. So, Mia was here... that improves Karis's chances, I think," Ivan said. "I don't think Mia's that far gone. I mean, yeah, she's far gone, but I don't believe she'd intentionally murder somebody, and I don't believe that she'd leave someone to die, especially not my... my daughter..."

"So she is alive. Then she is en route to Tuaparang, unless I am mistaken. Do you intend to pursue her?"

"Of course I intend to pursue her!" Ivan cried. "She's my daughter! She needs my help!"

"How will you reach her?"

Ivan bit his lip. "Shoot. Okay, gimme a minute."

Sveta grinned. "I can wait," she said.

After several seconds of muttering and frantic pacing, Ivan snapped his fingers.

"This might be a bit of a longshot, but it's the first thing I've thought of that stands a chance. Sveta, do you know if Karis finished her invention?"

Sveta cocked her head and flicked her ears. "Invention?"

Ivan nodded. "She was working on a single-rider variant of the Soarwing that employed a Zol-centric chassis. I understand she's been tinkering with it before bed every night for a good while now. If it's done, I might be able to use it. If it's nearly done, I might be able to finish it."

"...Single-rider?" Sveta asked. "So, the user would presumably activate the device with Whirlwind psynergy...?"

"That's the idea, yeah," Ivan said. "Sorry, but you're going to have to stay here. I don't think it's designed to carry two people."

"I am afraid you will have to think of another plan, then," Sveta said. "I apologize in advance."

"Just so you can go and get yourself killed? Sorry, but no."

Sveta shook her head.

"No," she said. "I apologize because you will have to find your own way there. Thank you for your assistance. You are a good person, Ivan."

She bowed sincerely, and then sprinted in the direction of the town.

Ivan blinked.

An instant later, he discerned her intentions.

He ran after her as fast as his legs could carry him. He meant well, but he stood no chance.

* * *

It took a moment for her to remember where the inn had been, but she found it much easier once she took to the rooftops. A burst of instinct-memory brought back her hunt for Matthew back when she had first entered the town. She was on the west side of the city, which meant that the inn was...

She darted off, leaping deftly from roof to roof in beastform. The dim lighting was no hindrance to her anymore, and the boost of strength made even leaping across alleyways, and even wide thoroughfares, as easy as thinking of it. She would occasionally scale one of the taller buildings for a better view of the area, but she generally knew where she was going, and indeed, it took less than five minutes from start to finish to locate her destination.

She landed directly in front of the inn that had sheltered her during her illness. She returned to her humanoid form. She tried the front door, found it locked, and then tried the window and found it to be much less resilient.

Sveta dashed up the stairs, taking them 5 at a time. She reached the end of the hallway, instantly recognizing the room she and Matthew had shared. She backed up one door, remembering it to be Karis's room, and tried the doorknob.

Locked again. No matter.

She made a short hop backward and then dropkicked Karis's door down. The hinges tore off cleanly.

Sveta sniffed the air. Yes, it carried hints of her scent. So her belongings would be... there, in a travel-bag in the corner.

Tearing the bag open, Sveta threw the contents all over the room in a desperate search for the mysterious invention she desired. Clothes, clothes, hygiene products... stationery... more clothes.

Sveta examined the front of her own royal gown. It was a mockery of the splendid dress it had once been. It was dirty, tattered, torn open in the middle of the chest, and liberally coated with blood. And it wasn't exactly designed with combat in mind in the first place, either.

She decided that Karis wouldn't mind if Sveta borrowed some of her clothing. She carefully placed the door back in its frame, and hurriedly threw off her own dress in favor of one of Karis's outfits. It was rather tight in some places (and embarrassingly loose in others), but it was better than that useless gown.

As she pulled the top over her head, a thought occurred to her.

She immediately dropped to the floor, staring underneath the bed. She let out a triumphant cry.

There was a long, wide box stowed underneath. It was perfect for... something. Whatever it was. Sveta just assumed it was what she was looking for.

She pulled it out and opened it, retrieving an odd, winged backpack from within.

She raised an eyebrow. Tacky.

But hopefully functional.

Sveta threw it over her shoulders, pulled the door down again, and dashed outside to the open street. She took a moment to get her bearings, remembering which direction she had last seen the airship moving in, and then steadied herself.

Ivan had said it merely required the use of Whirlwind. Most likely, she would have to activate it, cast the spell to direct herself, and then recast it several times to maintain height and velocity. It would be a heavy drain on her psynergy, but she would do whatever it took.

She reached within herself, and felt the wind begin to blow-

* * *

Ivan had reached the city by this point, but he was hopelessly lost. He didn't know where his daughter had been staying. Sveta had probably already found the device. If it worked, all was already lost.

But he still ran, aiming for the approximate center of the city. For he knew that if the machine didn't work, Sveta would be landlocked. And he knew that it required psynergy to start. If he was lucky, he'd be able to sense her opening Whirlwind, and that would lead him directly to her location.

It was a good thing Ivan was in shape. Years of tagging along with Isaac, who ran literally _everywhere,_ had done him good.

There! A quick pulse, very weak. Probably not even enough to get her off the ground. Ivan didn't know what she was trying, but it gave him hope.

He ran toward the source.

* * *

-and as the wind began to blow, and the sound of psynergy filled her mind, Sveta's heart began to race. Her muscles twitched, her pupils dilated, her lungs pumped in panic. The wind danced at her call, just as she desired, but for an instant, she could have sworn that she saw a purple glow-

"Noooooooo!" she shouted. "Noooo... no, no no no no..."

She fell to her hands and knees, already exhausted. She was sweating heavily. She waited, waited, waited for the pain to arrive.

It never came.

Every nerve in her body tingled in anticipation of agony.

She shivered.

No pain.

"Alright," she whispered, calming herself. "Everything is alright. There are no traps. There will be no pain. There is no risk. Everything is okay."

She stilled her mind, focusing on the peace and quiet surrounding her. She let her heart fall back to its normal rhythm, and breathed slowly and purposefully. She carefully stood up again, brushing her hair back with one hand.

That had been odd.

Oh well, it was worth another try-

* * *

Ivan felt another pulse. It was much closer this time, but even weaker than before. He adjusted his course, and tore down a sidestreet. Almost there.

* * *

The wind picked up, the essence of Jupiter poured out its lifeblood, and Sveta let her mind stir it into action. She felt the familiar motion of the air against her fur, and gave it a little push.

Psynergy. Wind. Purple.

"Aaaaaaaaah!" she screamed, imagining pain despite there being none.

She fell to the ground, sobbing, her fingers prickling with nothing less than an extraordinary _lack_ of pain, and her very core shaken by the prospect of a pain that _was not there._

There were no traps around. She was physically uninjured.

But the memory remained.

Tears flowed down her face as she tried to steady herself again. She was free, she tried to tell herself. There was nothing to worry about.

But there hadn't been anything to worry about before, either. She was safe and in the open. She was as strong as she had ever been. And in spite of it all, every time she tried to call on her wind psynergy...

She huddled up into a tight ball.

As the sound of footsteps reached her ears, she raised her eyes slightly. Ivan had arrived, and she had failed. Failed again, failed at her one chance to be back with Matthew...

"What happened?" Ivan called. "Did you fall? Are you hurt?"

Sveta shook her head.

"...Then what? Why are you crying?"

She buried her face between her knees.

"...I tried..." she mumbled. "I tried to take off. I tried to call the wind, and go after the others. But... the wind, it..."

"It what?"

He knelt down next to her, putting his hand on her shoulder. He didn't ask why she was wearing Karis's clothing. She appreciated that.

"I heard it blowing," she said. "It blew, and I felt it against my fur, and... it was like being back in the prison again. It was horrible. And I tried again, and I tried to block it out, but... but it kept happening..."

"Oh, gods, Sveta..."

"I am terrified of my own psynergy, Ivan," she continued. "The wind makes me panic. A simple movement of air is enough to send me into convulsions."

Hesitantly, she removed the flight pack from her shoulders. She handed it to Ivan.

"You were right," she said, "I cannot go to Tuaparang. I could not even go of my own free will. You deserve to see your daughter, to ask her why she did these things to me."

Ivan took the pack silently, but set it on the floor. He put an arm around the broken girl before him, pulling her into a gentle hug.

"It's alright, Sveta," he said. "You'll be fine. We'll find a way to make you better, somehow. I'm sure Karis didn't mean it. Someday, you'll be right as rain."

Sveta laughed in spite of herself.

"Someday, maybe," she said, "but for now, what use am I? I am a Jupiter Adept that is afraid of wind. How could I expect to help the others? I cannot even help myself."

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_[UPDATE Oct 5th: I'm still alive! Sorry about the delays everybody! I've been swamped with all sorts of stuff (ex. last-minute decision to apply to university for winter term) and I've been too moody in my spare time to write properly. Expect the next chapter on Oct 7th/8th.]  
_

_Thanks for the feedback on that random throwaway section! I actually love writing little fanservicey bits like that (see also: The Djinn Have Eyes, one of my other stories), but the opportunity doesn't present itself that often. I'd say that 90% of fanservice is probably also authorservice, but I try to hold back because while the, "fanfiction medium" is sort of known for excessive fanservice, I'm writing to try to improve my own writing skill as much as I'm writing for fun._

_The consensus seems to be that people would rather wait a day or two for a chapter than just have me post what I've got done (like I did with Ch55). Thanks for telling me! I'll do my best to stick with the schedule I have set, but I'll put a higher priority on bigger chapters than punctuality._

_..Did the fight scene at the beginning make sense, by the way? As we head into the final act, we're going to find ourselves neck-deep in action sequences, and though I've been practicing them a little, I especially want to hear your criticisms. Was the pacing awkward? Did my phrasing make any sense? Too flowery, too melodramatic, too drawn-out? I'd love some direction here._

_Review responses:_

_CreationsGoneAwry: Ooh, chapter 17-esque fanservice chapters? Well... it's sort of tough to do that sort of thing while carrying the plot along. Also, I find myself worrying a lot about the difference between my story's T rating and the "adults only" M rating – like, I'll plan out a future chapter, and then scrap the whole thing because I suspect some people might think it's too risque – so while I'd love to go in that direction more often (innocent fun to write!) I think that Chapter 17's topless backrub was the absolute furthest I could let myself go, and anything else would just be a shadow of that scene's glory._

_I'll try to do longer chapters, but I think it might be a little late to worry about keeping the number of chapters to an accessible-looking limit._

_godofmadness43: My idea is that Proxians are more aggressive and competitive in every aspect of their lives, so displays of emotion like "kissy-kissy-I-wuv-woo" would be frowned upon. Karst probably does things like supporting Felix's weaknesses without pointing them out, and... I dunno, letting her guard down around him. I want to do a sidestory of Felix's 3 years in Prox, and if I ever get around to that, then you'll hopefully see what I mean._

_Have a Little Feith: I know what you mean... I've tried writing while exhausted before, and it never ends well. Is one of my recent chapters particularly bad though? I'm not taking offense to it, but if there's something that stands out as below-average quality, tell me, and I'll do my best to bring it up to par._


	58. Ghosts of the Past

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Ivan was downstairs, closely examining a map of Weyard to determine what direction to fly in. Sveta's directions – rather, the other party's direction - only somewhat helped. They had a vague 45 degree wedge extending from Bilibin that _might_ contain Tuaparang's location. Ivan had read several faint hints from the mind of the pilot of the plane he had helped commandeer, and was using them to try to piece together a better target area. After all, he'd be flying under his own power alone, and if he made a mistake, his endurance would be the upper limit. If something went wrong, he'd be flying for a long, long time.

And then he'd crash and die, and no one would ever find his body.

Sveta was ignorant of this particular fact, but she was in no way blissful. She had headed to the upper floor of the inn, hoping to get some sleep in the room she and Matthew shared. In truth, she was hoping to wake up, all of these terrible events having been some kind of drawn-out nightmare. But if that didn't happen, at least she would be able to spend some time happily unconscious, without concern for Matthew's safety or for her own future.

She was the queen of Morgal, after all, the last living descendant of a line famed for producing powerful Jupiter Adepts. Now she was only half a Jupter Adept, so to speak, and being attuned to psynergy meant little anymore now that Belinsk's citizens had apparently gained talents of their own. To make things worse, Belinsk was a port city. Port cities tended to be very, very windy near the water, and the castle itself was practically on an island. Sveta could perhaps find excuses to leave the castle once in a while, but there was no chance that she could hide her weakness for long. Her people would notice, and she had had a hard enough time leading when she was a legendary warrior.

Everything about the throne, and her place on it, made Sveta want to gag, sob, and scream simultaneously. She was not cut out for it. Her brother had been the true king. Her father had been great as well, and perhaps even her mother would have been capable of doing the job. But they were dead. She was alone. Alone with all of these responsibilities she had never been fully prepared for, and that prevented her from living the life she truly wanted to live.

As she opened the door to the room she shared – it was still unlocked, she noted with some dismay – she took in the sights. It was fairly tidy, with her kit in one corner, Matthew's in another. The bed was unmade, and there were slight indentations from the two bodies that had laid there earlier.

Sveta closed and locked the door behind her. She opened the window to air out the room. She looked at the bed, and her eyes drifted to Matthew's side.

She hesitated, worried that what she was about to do might seem a bit pathetic.

She then buried her nose in his pillow, letting his scent envelop her and allowing herself to imagine that he was still there with her, and not risking his life elsewhere, having left her behind for her own safety.

Sveta didn't cry. She knew that he would most likely be alright. They had all been through greater dangers and come out alive. But it hurt that he had seen fit to make her stay in Bilibin, and it hurt even more to know that he had probably been right.

She didn't notice when she fell asleep, face still pressed against Matthew's pillow, but she was quickly enveloped in a dream.

* * *

She was back in Teppe Ruins. She was carrying a human girl's bag – Hou Ju's bag, she realized in the back of her mind, but her consciousness deliberately ignored it to improve the experience – and had just caught the scent of other humans passing through. They were far from the only ones in the area, but she had been following this group for a short while. They seemed intent on helping others, and Sveta knew that even if they didn't know who owned the bag, they would do their best to deliver it safely.

She led them deeper into the ruins, baiting them toward what seemed to be a dead end until she knew she could corner them safely. When they stopped, she revealed herself and made it clear she came in peace. The five people in the group stared at her, and she at them. But one of them caught her eye.

The one in the middle, the blonde one, remained silent the entire time, but he carried himself with confidence, and he simply exuded a sense of justice – there was no other way to put it. He was a man who would do the right thing, no matter the cost to himself. He was obviously the alpha male of the group, by the way the others stepped aside for him, and by the way the female eyed him. (Shoot, it was so obvious! How did Sveta miss that the first time?) The boy stepped forward.

There was a flash of light, and suddenly they were elsewhere.

Sveta was clad in her dark protective armor, the Umbra Gear. She was crying over her brother's broken, mutated body. But out of the corner of her eye, beyond her vision, she could _feel_ Matthew moving. He was climbing the Apollo Lens, completely unprotected, aiming to fire it and end the Eclipse once and for all. He had to know that he wouldn't make the trip back down. He tried anyway.

He was knocked back from the force of the light streaming across the Lens. He tried again, and fell once more. Each time, Sveta was sure he would give up, but he never even slowed. He pushed his way onward through the pain and the burning and tried again and again.

Finally, she stopped him. It had to be her. Her armor wouldn't protect her for the entire time, but she would at least last long enough to fire the lens before being torn apart by the light. She was weak, and she was unwilling... but as she watched him, she felt something stir. She knelt by his battered body and asked for him to share his strength with her – a figure of speech, of course. She needed his confidence. She needed his iron will.

He gave her far more than that, she realized as she felt their spirits join. He had somehow given her his very soul. And she knew, without knowing why, that he wasn't sure how he had done it either. Their thoughts were as one. He knew everything about her, and she knew everything about him. Neither had ever experienced anything like that before, but somehow... it felt right. They felt whole. They knew each other and found no fault. And they were ready to go together into the light, giving up everything to save all they knew.

Then there was darkness.

She saw Matthew, standing firm. He was dressed in his combat gear and holding the Sol Blade. His expression was blank. Suddenly, he jerked back, a pair of crossbow bolts embedded deep in his chest. He fell limp to the ground. He did not get up.

As that Matthew faded, another appeared. He held a similarly neutral stance, but this time a sword erupted from his chest, red blood flying through the darkness and flowing down his shirt, staining everything it touched. He didn't even have time to fall before fading.

And so it went. Matthew, his throat cut by an invisible adversary. Matthew, bursting into flame from an unseen source. Matthew, falling down into the endless abyss. Matthew, pummelled to death by inhuman hands.

As one final Matthew appeared, neutral, almost accusatory, Sveta realized that she was present for this. She was interacting with this Matthew. Horrified, she wondered if the dream would force her to be the one to take his life this last time. She held her hands by her side to prevent them from strangling him, shut her jaw tightly so as to avoid tearing out his throat.

As the phantasm gazed into her eyes, he slumped. Sveta was suddenly aware of a river of blood, pouring forth from his eyes, nose and mouth. She hadn't done a thing, and he was dying anyway. Or... was he dying _because_ she hadn't done anything?

He fell into her arms. Her white dress seemed to be turning a deep scarlet of its own accord. As their eyes met once more, hers weeping, his glazing over, Sveta wondered how she could have prevented this. She wished she could have done something, anything, to undo it.

His head fell, his arm sagged, and Sveta was alone.

A lonely wind blew through the darkness.

Sveta howled.

* * *

She gasped as she awoke, sweating and crying. Just a dream. Just a dream. _Please._

Discretely, almost as if she was hiding the action from herself, Sveta examined the front of her shirt – Karis's shirt, rather, as she was still wearing the borrowed clothing – and let out a sigh of relief when she saw that it was still the same matte white as before.

How silly of her. Of course it had all been in her imagination. She gave silent thanks to whatever good fortune had gotten her to change out of her bloody dress from before. That could have been a disaster.

But the dream resonated within her. Matthew had done so much for her before, and had risked his life for her so many times in the past. Atop the Apollo Lens he had gone with her to what should have been their deaths, for no better reason than that Sveta could not make it alone. He had neither the means nor a particularly good reason to help her, and yet he had risked his life anyway.

And now he had gone to Tuaparang. She had stayed behind, and for what? Because of the risk. And now, because she felt she lacked the means to help. She had many, many good reasons, she realized – she needed to avenge her people, she needed to defend the survivors from those who wished them harm... and she needed to make sure Matthew returned home safely with her. And yet she had stayed behind.

As the many deaths of her illusory lover played before her eyes once more, she decided that that had been a mistake.

She jumped out of bed and hurried to the door, hoping that she wasn't too late. Luckily, when she stormed down the stairs, she was greeted by a dreary-looking Ivan, hunched over a world map covered in pencil marks.

"How is progress?" she asked. "Is there anything I can do to assist you?"

Ivan shook his head. "Almost got it, I think. I've narrowed down the location well enough, I'm just trying to find some landmarks that I'll be able to see from the air. It'll be hard enough to find Tuaparang without getting lost midflight. Is everything okay?"

Sveta hesitated before deciding not to mention the dream. "I am fine, yes, thank you. I simply dozed off for a moment. How long was I asleep?"

"Ten minutes, maybe fifteen." Ivan replied. "If you want to head back to bed-"

"I do not, thank you. In fact, I have changed my mind again," Sveta explained, "and I feel we should re-open the discussion about how I will be joining you on your trip."

Ivan's palm collided with his face seemingly of its own accord.

"Please!" Sveta continued. "I can still fight. I am physically fit, I have access to my beastform, and while I am, er, hesitant to use wind-based abilities, I am certain that the thunder and lightning end of the Jupiter spectrum remains within my grasp. I can be an asset!"

"No means no, Sveta. For one, you'll die. It's almost guaranteed. For two, our only remaining means of getting there is a single-person flying device, and even that's risky for me. Please, quit asking," Ivan said. "I have a feeling it's going to be a long night."

Sveta's heart fell. "Do you at least know where you are going?" she asked.

"It'll be hard to miss," Ivan said with a light smile. "Tuaparang's a flying city. You don't see many of those."

Sveta blinked. "...Huh?"

"It's airborne," he continued. "They're actually floating off the edge of Gaia Falls. It makes them completely immune to attack, in theory. That's why we need to use airships and flying devices. It'll also make it difficult to locate exactly, since it's technically mobile-"

"If it is airborne, how will Matthew be of any use?" Sveta interrupted. "He cannot make the earth shake if they are in the sky. He cannot summon his thorns in a city of steel. He will be a glorified swordsman against legions of trained soldiers with advanced technology, and you say that_ I_ am at risk?"

"Sveta, drop the issue. PLEASE."

She folded her arms defiantly. "Ivan, what would you do if it was your wife in Matthew's place?"

"That's different. She isn't an Adept."

"Matthew may as well not be either if he cannot use his talents!"

"You aren't married to him, either!"

She slammed her hands on the table that held the map. "_I am pregnant and he is the father!_"

Ivan's jaw dropped.

Then he closed his mouth and pulsed with psynergy for a second. He rolled his eyes. "Oh, for..."

Sveta sighed. "Alright, I lied. I am not pregnant. I forgot you were a mind reader as well. But you must understand how much this means to me. I will do anything, Ivan. Anything at all, just for a chance to go with you to Tuaparang."

Ivan stared at the world map in front of him. "Sveta... I can't bring you. Karis's machine isn't designed for two people."

"Then carry me! The device runs on wind, and you are one of the two most powerful Jupiter Adepts on the planet. If anyone can do it, it is you."

"Sveta..."

She stared up at Ivan urgently, pleading. But as he frowned back at her, her face fell, from her eyes to her mouth to her ears. Slowly she turned and marched toward the stairs.

He stopped her as she started her ascent.

"Forgive Karis."

She turned back to Ivan.

"That is my price," he repeated. "Forgive my daughter. I don't know how much she actually had to do with what happened to you, but that doesn't matter to me. If you want me to bring you along, you have to give me your word that you will do your best to mend that bridge between you."

"I give you my word as Queen of Morgal."

"We both know how little that means to you at this point."

Sveta paused. She closed her eyes and solemnly placed a hand on her chest.

"...Then I give you my word as Sveta of Morgal, sister to the late King Volechek, daughter of the late King Czamaral, and lover of Matthew of Kalay. I will do my best to... to give your daughter a chance to make amends." She paused, holding her mouth open for a moment as she considered her next words. "I will open myself up to discussion with her until such time as either we come to an agreement, or she commences hostilities against me. In the latter case, I will defend myself. But I will make an effort to prevent that from happening."

Ivan smiled.

"It'll be loud and windy. Are you sure you can handle the trip?"

Sveta nodded. "Whatever it takes."

"Then we're going now. Grab whatever you need and we'll set off. We have to set a good pace if we're going to catch up in time."

Without another word, Sveta retreated upstairs, grabbed her travel kit and Matthew's, emptied out anything particularly heavy, and followed Ivan outside.

She had passed out from sheer terror five minutes after takeoff, but Ivan was just glad that she didn't have her claws digging into his back anymore.

* * *

Maddie's teeth chattered audibly as she stepped out of the airship. Part of it was just the sudden change in temperature from the climate-controlled cockpit to the open dock, but part of it was also that she had been completely unprepared for cold of any sort. She had noticed that they were heading farther and farther north, but most of her attention was taken up by the fact that they had gone over the falls, and then landed on a city that was literally flying under its own power.

"Why isn't anyone else shivering?" Maddie said. "It's f-friggin' freezing out here!"

Caudgel rolled her eyes. "It's not _that_ cold," she said. "It's chilly, yes, but what do you expect? We're even further north than Imil, and we're at a high altitude. It's something you just get used to."

Indeed, the older woman barely seemed to register the temperature. As Mia walked down the landing ramp carrying Karis, Maddie noticed that the Mercury Adept actually seemed more comfortable than she had in Bilibin. There was a slight spring in her step... though Maddie couldn't tell whether it was because Mia had gone back to her familiar, beloved cold, or because they were back in Tuaparang. Either way made sense.

"Wh-when you said I needed a change of clothes, I thought you meant a uniform..." Maddie muttered in Caudgel's direction. The two moved aside for a group of five soldiers, fully armed and armored, who cautiously lifted Karst from her seat and followed after Mia – toward the hospital complex, most likely. Caudgel didn't spare them any attention, and simply took a clipboard from one of them, raising a pen to it with a fluorish.

"I did," she said, "to some extent. You will have one tailor-made for you eventually. For now, I will just requisition a jacket from the quartermaster for you, but for that, I need to take down your information for our records."

"Information?"

"Well, Tuaparang has a vast collection of personal records, notable events, and historical data on file in our Archive building. It's entirely likely that we already have a folder with your name on it, though I would be very surprised if it contained anything notable, to be frank. Still, if you are to work with us, we will need to perform a thorough background check, and it would help to have things like height and measurements for ease of equipment distribution."

Maddie shrugged. "I, uh... I guess that'll be okay."

"Of course!" Caudgel said. "They have my information on file, too, in case you were wondering. I can order clothing with my emblem on it and have it ready within a day, but that is mostly just because I am a high-ranking officer."

She paused, and grinned. "Actually, now that I think about it... well, we ARE down two members. I am sure that Mia would be happy to fill the role of Traitor Warrior in Felix's place, but Blados' position is still open. How would you feel about that?"

"Umm, n-now?"

"No, not _now._ Of course not. You have yet to prove yourself in any way," the General of Clubs said with a laugh. "But if you demonstrate talent – and I strongly suspect you will – then you will go far. You would hardly be doing the same jobs as that brute Blados, assassinating helpless women and so forth, but His Highness will find a place for you, and if I put in a good word for you, it will certainly be a place to your liking."

Maddie gulped. She was getting far too deep, far too fast. Becoming a General seemed outright absurd to her. It would make it very easy to help Rief and the others, yes, but it would put her right next to some very, very dangerous people. Taking risks was one thing, but accepting this job would be suicide.

"I, ah... maybe? Let's maybe talk about this later on," Maddie said. "I think maybe a promotion like that is a bit premature."

Caudgel clicked her tongue. "Modesty is a useless trait, girl. But you're right, I'm getting ahead of myself. Umm, let's see... first field is the name."

"Maddie, of course."

"Right, I know," she continued. "And how do you spell that? M-A-D-I...?"

"No, no," Maddie said. "It's short for Madeline, actually. I probably should've said that first if you need the full name. That's, uh, that's M-A-D-E-L-"

"...I-N-E, right..." the older woman interrupted, trailing off. "Interesting, that was... oh, nevermind."

"What?"

"Nothing important."

But Maddie saw some apprehension in that face, caught Caudgel's gaze as it flicked across her features several times. Maddie pretended not to notice, but a subtle shift in the general's center of body mass indicated unease.

"Next is... well, alright, your height and weight can be taken down later. Measurements too..."

Caudgel skimmed the list on her clipboard for a moment, and then blinked and bit her tongue.

"Sorry," she asked, "how old were you again? Age and date of birth, actually."

"I'll be turning 17 on September 2nd," Maddie replied smoothly. It was the truth, but she wanted to be able to read Caudgel's expression as the words came forth.

A nearly unnoticeable twitch of an eyebrow told her little, but the fact that there was no other reaction whatsoever – not even neutral movements – said to her that Caudgel had brought her guard back up. She was hiding something.

"What else?" Maddie encouraged.

Caudgel's eyes flicked down to the clipboard, then back to Maddie. Back to the clipboard, back to the girl. There were several agonizing, empty breaths.

"Father's name and occupation," Caudgel said.

Maddie raised an eyebrow. "That's on the information form-?"

"Yes, yes. Please try to keep it concise, if possible."

"Well, he was an architect who worked for the city of Bilibin-"

**SNAP.**

"Oh, how unfortunate," Caudgel said, her face a solid stone mask, free of any emotion whatsoever. "My pen broke. They're generally so sturdy, too. I must go and fetch another."

She turned on her heel and walked away urgently.

"But... but, the forms-" Maddie called.

Caudgel waved a hand dismissively. "We can do the rest later. Something dreadfully important has come to my attention. Just... ah..."

She stopped in her tracks, grabbed a soldier, and pulled him close, whispering something that Maddie was too far away to hear.

The soldier nodded, and began to move away, but Caudgel grabbed him and yanked him back. She put her face next to his and, glaring and baring teeth, growled something at him.

This was significantly louder. Maddie couldn't hear all of it, and what she could hear was difficult to make out. But it sounded like a threat of bodily harm – something like "will inflict it back upon you tenfold."

Caudgel pushed the soldier away and stormed off. The man gave a redundant salute that she didn't even notice.

The soldier then marched toward Maddie, hands held outward in a peaceful gesture.

"The General wishes for me to escort you to her quarters for the time being," he said. "We will find you your own room shortly. I am to guard you until Lady Caudgel returns. Will you come with me, please?"

Slightly bewildered, Maddie nodded, and the two of them began to walk briskly toward the barracks complex.

Her mind worked furiously as she tried to both memorize the route they had taken (presumably the quickest way back to the docks, in case of an emergency) and figure out what it might have been that set Caudgel off so fiercely.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_And so the story returns, not with a bang, but with a lot of whimpering. Eh, could've been a more exciting chapter I guess. Next one will be better._

_Apologies for the gulf between chapters. I've had a LOT going on in my life recently – serious, high-priority stuff – and writing just kinda got shunted aside. I have a lot to say in the A/N today, but I'll start with the interesting/important things and then I'll do the self-indulgent bullshit at the end._

_Not even gonna try to set a deadline because I have no faith that I'd be able to keep it; I do have a "goal" in mind, but I'm not gonna say what it is in case anybody takes it as a promise or a guarantee. I don't want to let you guys down, and if I say when I'm gonna update again then I'm almost certainly going to fall behind on that._

_So, some "patch notes" for those of you who don't want to reread the previous chapter:_

_-The Empyror is a very powerful Mars Adept, but the gauntlets he wears can be used to further amplify his power; this is how he manages to pull off Warrior-of-Vale-level pyrotechnics. The gauntlets also protect him from the effects of his Mage Masher (a benefit he deliberately withheld from Felix) but that information was present in the original draft too._

_-Halo (the Light Djinni) refuses to be equipped to any Adept who already has Djinn of the "natural" variety (mercury, venus, mars, jupiter) because he's sort of an asshole. However, the benefits he extends actually far surpass those granted by other Djinn, to the point where The Empyror, with just Halo, is augmented more than Chalis, with her 50 Mars Djinn. (Light Djinn are kind of overpowered. This is intentional.)_

_-The Empyror can travel backward through time with the new class Halo grants him, but it's INCREDIBLY draining (very PP-intensive in game terms, probably). The original draft had him practice for about half an hour and then skip back to catch the airship; the final edit only gives him 10 minutes of practice, and reversing those 10 minutes exhausts him to the point where he doesn't feel confident that he can safely pilot the ship back home._

_-Just a reminder that I dropped the "Shadow Adepts of the Umbra Clan" thing from this story's canon. Chalis is a Mars Adept, and Blados was not an Adept at all. A lot of people commented on the idea of Chalis being a Shadow Adept, and how that might come into play with a Light Djinni. It will not come into play. She is not a Shadow Adept. Sorry for the confusion!_

_Send me a message or a review if there's anything you still don't get. In case it wasn't already obvious, I never get sick of talking about my own ideas, so I'd be more than happy to 1) explain it and 2) edit the chapter again to make sure it's clear to everybody._

_Review responses:_

_Everyone who gave me criticism: THANK YOU, I love when people tell me things to work on, it makes me feel like I actually have an opportunity to consciously learn from my mistakes. I'll explain where I think I went wrong in the self-indulgent bullshit section below. Feel free to keep complaining/shouting/muttering under your breath at me if there's still anything wrong! I want it to be as clear as possible so no one gets confused later. Light/Shadow Djinn are going to be very important down the line._

_The guy who keeps asking for a Matt/Sveta lemonfic: I assume that's what you mean, at least, when you ask (repeatedly) for an m-rated Matt/Sveta fic. While I'm surprised this doesn't exist yet, I don't feel qualified/mentally prepared to be the first person who does it. If you want an M-rated Matt/Sveta fic, you should try writing it yourself. What could go wrong?_

_The guy who asked me to speed up the updates: Life has gotten immensely busy lately. There's no way I'll be able to keep up the update schedule I held for most of September until I can teach myself to only do parts of a chapter at a time (it has literally been either all at once or half a chapter per night in the past). I'll do my best to avoid these monthlong gaps, but February's one-a-day schedule is a relic of the past, and even the three-day-turnover I had been pulling off might be tough to keep._

_I'm sorry to keep everybody waiting on these, but keep in mind that DoJ is one of my lowest priorities. I've only been able to update as often as I have because I literally had nothing else going on. I love writing, but I don't count "updating fanfiction" as a serious responsibility of mine. _

_CatastropheXXI: That's a big part of it, yeah! The truth is that I've been trying early on to establish what "realm" everything falls under with relation to elemental affinity; it doesn't make sense to me that healing wounds should be "water" magic, so Mercury, in DoJ canon, is the realms of both Water and Body/Life/Some more clever name for health. When I decided to bring in Light and Shadow, I figured that, as non-natural elements (we have no light/shadow Adepts or Djinn in any of the games), they should be special. Thus, Sol is both Light and Time, and Luna is both Shadow and Space – they aren't related to humans, they're above that. They oversee the universe as a whole._

_When Alex finds his way into the spotlight (in another story, that is) he'll exposit on Sol and Luna elements; he's been studying them pretty intently for spoiler-ish reasons. For now, all you need to know is that Sol is Light and Time, and Luna is Shadow and Space._

_...And, uh, what you said in your review (light - relativity etc) is the reason why Light and Time are tied under Sol. That's what I meant when I said it was a "big part of it."_

_Lumino: If I were to restart this story from the beginning, or go back and edit more of it, I'd add a few scenes of Empyror character development. As it is, I'll try to give him as much as I can in the final act. This story isn't really about the adventure and the villains as much as it is about the protagonists and their internal conflicts; Tuaparang is a handy plot device to explain everything wrong in the world, but I wish I didn't have to RESOLVE it. The Empyror has the potential to be an interesting character (in my head) but all I have time for is to make him a formidable antagonist._

_I'm still going to try to keep him as realistic as possible. He isn't immune to mistakes, and most of his advantages right now come from the fact that he cheated, in a sense, with his manipulation abilities. It's like giving a 5-year-old an AK-47. Sure, he'll ruin you if he wants to, but his inexperience means that he's almost as much of a danger to himself as he is to you. Apologies if he seems a little overpowered at this point; that's as much for his benefit as it is for the readers', if you know what I mean._

_Anyway... time for the self-indulgent bullshit! Don't worry, this won't become a regular segment._

_So... last chapter, with its Sol Djinni encounter, was an experiment in a lot of different ways. I regret introducing Halo in that particular manner – like I mentioned before, Light and Shadow Djinn are going to be a major feature in the future, and I managed to lose the entire explanation of why they're special in my attempt to simultaneously play with atmosphere, establish The Empyror as a force to be reckoned with, and write a coherent fight scene. Really, the chapter was way busier than it needed to be. One of the biggest drawbacks with posting chapters as they're done (rather than finishing the story, editing it as a whole, and THEN publishing it) is that you can't add and take away stuff without pissing off your serial readers, the people who read each chapter within the first two or three days of posting. If I had planned better, or if I could go back and redo it, I would definitely spread this scene out over a few chapters. There's a lot that CAN happen, and there's a lot that should be fleshed out. I just... didn't, here._

_It's tough, in a lot of ways. On the one hand, I want to make sure that the story has consistent quality throughout, and I want to make sure the pacing's okay. This would require me to go back, get rid of redundant scenes, flesh out the more important stuff to draw attention to it... generally, editing and polishing. But if someone's already gone through the effort of reading the 60-something chapters of this story, I don't want to punish them by saying "You won't get the real story unless you start over from the beginning." You guys have been giving me feedback, praise, and good ol' constructive criticism from the start and I would never have gotten this far without it. Writing has become a major part of my life and it would feel flat-out wrong to punish the people who did that for me just because of my own vanity._

_Anyway... I sat down and plotted out the rest of the story during my absence. Tuaparang is a pretty solid (if relatively short) third act, and while I thought we were at the end or near the end, I estimate it'll be another 10-15 chapters at my current chapter length before we hit the epilogue. I'm gonna try to do longer chapters from now on just to keep the chapter count from getting too out-of-control; average chapter length is 4.5k-5.5k these days, and I'm gonna see if I can push that up to 8k-ish just by combining chapters that don't need to be separated._

_I've learned a ton from this story, and it all happened in less than a year... I guarantee (as much as I can, I mean) that the epilogue will come before February, and we've still got a lot to go before that. There will be plentiful fight scenes, plot threads will finally be tied off, the status quo will be changed, and there WILL be character deaths. It will make some readers sad but hopefully it'll be a good kind of sad, like when Leon died at the end of The Professional. Hopefully it'll all provide closure, too; I've said before that I plan to continue in this universe after DoJ is over (I still do) but I hope to make it so that if you don't want to go on to read my OC-heavy crap, you don't have to, and you won't feel like you're missing out on anything important._

_So, thanks for sticking with me thus far. If you're new, thanks for showing up at all! I joke a lot that my ego can't take much more praise (and yeah, I may be a liiiiittle narcissistic at times) but it really feels good to know (or... think?) that there are people out there who actually look forward to seeing what comes out of this crazy, broken head of mine._

_(Self-promotion... I wrote a short story called Pen Pals, viewable from my profile. It's an alternate Dark Dawn canon where Matthew meets Sveta at 8 years old. They keep in touch and become the closest of friends... and if you know anything about my shipping preferences you can guess how it all ends up. Very proud of it! Hope you like it!)_


	59. Making Up For Lost Time

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Tuaparang, as would befit a city designed literally from the ground up by a single person, was ordered very logically. The residential, industrial and agricultural sectors were patterned and interwoven for maximum efficiency, and where possible, buildings with similar purposes were combined into one to save space. It was a city of intelligent design, and could never have grown as it had without direction.

The palace stood tall at one corner of the city, on the opposite end from the airship docks. This meant that the palace was as far as it could possibly be from any would-be invaders, not that anyone could ever get there in the first place. There were no possible landing sites in the immediate area around the palace, and the docks were the only place one could even expect to arrive in one piece; anywhere else would have to be a crash-landing. The barracks was located immediately next to the docks, and all soldiers and other military personnel were housed there. That way, if someone arrived by surprise, a call-to-arms could take place in a very short period of time to focus all of Tuaparang's might on the city's defence.

Not that anyone would ever be able to attack, of course. The city was unreachable from the ground and no one else had air power. But the Empyror always had a plan B. It never hurt to be prepared.

The other two corners of the city held the Hospital, and the Archives; the hospital also held the prison/stasis cell structure, for ease of euthanization and stasis recovery, respectively, and the Archives were also home to the more important experimental science laboratories.

As a mobile city never found itself reliably in line with any compass directions, residents of Tuaparang had taken, rather than using north-south-east-west, to using the names of the primary structures as directions. One might direct a friend to a nice coffee shop Hospitalward, for example, or agree to meet a friend at the statue of the Empyror that stood just Dockward of the irrigation complex.

The moment Caudgel had left Maddie's line of sight, she began to run Archiveward like a bat out of hell.

* * *

As a woman who prided herself on her foresight, and her ability to read a situation, the fact that she had missed all the obvious hints grated on Caudgel to no end. Perhaps it was just that the situation was so unbearably unlikely as to be ignorable. Maybe it was because she had a lot more on her mind. But those were just excuses, and when it all came down to it, she had certainly known something subconsciously. Letting down her guard almost immediately, spilling out her entire life's story to someone who should have been a total stranger... those weren't things one just did out of nowhere.

Caudgel was going to the Archives' personal information files to learn what she could. It felt unnecessary, and perhaps it was, but it never hurt to be sure in her profession, and perhaps part of her just wanted to be proven wrong. It would excuse all of the stupid, stupid mistakes she had done over the past little while, to some extent.

_Oh, what a coincidence!_ she mocked herself in her head. _You're turning seventeen in September? Well, my daughter was born seventeen years before that day, and I named her Madeline, just like you! And you've never met your mother? I've never met my daughter! And your father was a palace architect? Well, the man who got me pregnant so I could pretend it was McCoy's was a palace architect OH COME ON, YOU STUPID, FOOLISH WOMAN._

She stormed up to the massive double-doors and forced them open. She gave the man behind the front desk a stern nod and hurried onward without waiting for a response. Everyone in the city knew who she was; she didn't have to show identification, and she had free reign to go anywhere she pleased, short of a few private sections of the palace. The personal information archive was classified top-secret, and all information within was available only on a need-to-know basis, as it contained data on several highly dangerous individuals – the Warriors of Vale, specifically – and His Highness didn't want anyone getting too comfortable with the idea that the eight public enemies were living, thinking beings with hopes and dreams.

Caudgel was one of the privileged few who had free access, and boy, had she abused it in her earlier years. She had something of a morbid fascination with learning every insignificant detail about her enemies. At times it could only have been described as an obsession. She _loved_ to hate them.

All this in mind, when she hurried into the personal information archives, went straight for a specific stack, pulled out a given volume, and sat down to read it right there, no one would have thought it strange in the slightest.

She pulled out her reading glasses as she sorted through her own file, looked through "relatives," and found that yes, someone HAD been keeping tabs on her daughter, for no better reason than that they were related by blood. Maddie hadn't even done anything of enough significance to warrant her own file. She was a footnote.

But she was a footnote with pictures. Pictures taken every few years, just for reference purposes. The most recent was from only a year prior. Her hair was shorter then.

Caudgel held the file tighter and tighter, not even realizing it, until she heard her knuckles crack from squeezing them too hard. She let go, and tried to smooth out the wrinkles in the paper as well as she could. It was difficult to care, though, she realized; it was important that she didn't leave a trace behind, but... but all at once, she had the life story of a daughter she never realized she cared about lying right before her. Well, not exactly; there were a handful of black-and-white photographs, and a few sparse lines about her hopes and fears, strengths and weaknesses. But it was enough to throw Caudgel headfirst into a sea of false nostalgia. Why, this picture could have been on her birthday, and... and if her mother had been around, they could have celebrated with her favorite food, and...

Her hands couldn't stop shaking. Caudgel willed herself back into the moment, ordered herself to focus on the matter at hand and the impending potential threats to her own life.

But she couldn't help it. She took the most recent picture of Maddie, brought it next to her own, and marvelled at how much they had in common, even to the naked eye.

What could she do? Should... should she tell her-

FLASH.

"Aaah!"

Caudgel fell over in surprise as the room filled with a blinding light. When her vision recovered, she saw none other than the High Empyror himself standing in the middle of the room, holding onto a nearby bookshelf for support and looking very dazed.

She looked at the open file in front of her and kicked it aside in a panic. A few papers flew wildly, but at least he wouldn't be able to tell from a glance what she had been looking at. Then, she stood, smoothed her clothing, and saluted.

He blinked at her twice. "What are you still doing here?" he groaned.

In spite of herself, she raised an eyebrow.

The Empyror squeezed his eyes shut and shook his head fiercely. "Sorry," he said. "What time is it?"

Caudgel looked at the clock directly behind him and said, "Around two in the morning, Your Highness."

"Oh, right," he said. "The clock. Uh... phew. Alright."

He staggered over to a chair and collapsed into it with an uncharacteristic lack of dignity. His arms fell nearly to the ground, and his eyes drifted shut. He breathed heavily for several agonizing seconds before Caudgel let herself react.

"Uh... My Lord, are you quite in good health?" she asked.

His eyes shot open. "Hmm?"

"I asked how you were doing, Your Highness. You seem... well, tired."

He nodded. "That would be accurate. Uh..." He let out a long breath. "Pffffffffffffff. Okay. So, two in the morning... that means I went back around thirty minutes. Thirty minus ten is..."

He paused.

Caudgel cleared her throat. "Twenty, My Lord. Thirty minus ten is twenty."

"Wow, I can't believe I couldn't figure that out... I must be really out of it." He brought up his hands and rested them on top of his hairless head. "'Kay, great. The Warriors of Vale will be here in twenty minutes. We need to prepare."

"Th- WHAT?"

"Yeah, I know," he said. "I'll actually be arriving about five minutes after them. There's a lot of wreckage. Or... there will be. And then I'll call you here five minutes after that, and... uh, crap. Don't tell me how out-of-sorts I'll be, or I won't want to time-travel. I don't want to find out how time paradoxes work."

Caudgel's eye twitched. She was at a loss for words.

"Umm, right," the Empyror continued. "So, I got the Sol Djinni, and it gives me access to some weird time bullcrap... and it's really, really, _really_ tiring to use. I just went back half an hour and I am utterly _fucked_ right now. So... okay. I need to go nap once I've figured out what we're going to do."

"Y... you..." Caudgel stammered. "Time travel?"

"Okay, umm... Karst," he said heedlessly. "Where is she? Do we have her?"

Nodding uncertainly, Caudgel tried to push her confusion aside for the time being. "Last I saw, she was being carried, unconscious, to the hospital. She's in perfect health, aside from the obvious, but I'd be surprised if they've secured her yet."

"Good. I need you to- okay, wait. First, I need you to sound the alarms and prepare for invasion, keeping in mind that they're going to break through the docks no matter what we do. Fortify some of the other major defensive positions. Then, go to the hospital, tell Karst that Isaac's here, and put her in the rig. It should still work, even though it's been in storage since forever."

She knew better than to second-guess the High Empyror. She nodded and bowed graciously. "Your will be done."

"Great," he sighed. "I'll be in my room, sleeping for... well, as long as it's safe to. Don't wake me. The other me, the one in the past, will want to meet with you and Mia when I arrive. Can you grab her and bring her here when you're done? Might not hurt to tell the troops where you'll be, so that they'll know when I ask them. But you didn't tell me you knew we'd be meeting, so... don't mention that... I guess." He whistled through his teeth. "Time travel sure is confusing!"

Caudgel shrugged.

Without further ado, the Empyror stood, waved, and started for the door. "Good luck," he called offhandedly. As the doors began to swing shut behind him, Caudgel heard him let out a massive yawn.

When he was safely gone from the room, she hurried to tidy up her personal file as quickly as she could, and stuffed it back into the stack she had retrieved it from.

She rushed through the doors and out of the Archives, and started Dockward.

But alerting the troops was only the second most important thing on her mind.

* * *

Maddie relaxed on Caudgel's bed. She was bored out of her mind. There was nothing to do here.

The room was quite spacious, but quite empty. There was a closet full of clothing, all of it embroidered in some way with the Clubs design. There was a chest at the foot of the bed, but Maddie wasn't allowed to open it. And there was a bedside table, barren but for an odd lamp and a folded-up butterfly knife.

It had taken all of thirty seconds to examine everything she was allowed to examine. She had already figured out how the knife opened and retracted. She was out of ways to kill time. And to make matters worse, her bodyguard-slash-captor _wouldn't stop staring at her_.

"Can you look away for like, five seconds?" Maddie shouted at the man in exasperation.

The soldier shook his head. "I was given strict orders not to let you out of my sight."

"Well, you don't have to take them _literally,_" she replied.

He didn't respond. It occurred to Maddie that yes, he may, in fact, have to. She didn't know how the Empyror's indoctrination worked.

_Oh, shoot! Indoctrination!_ she realized. _He might be coming here at this very moment to... oh, crap. Maybe that's what that woman hurried off for. Maybe I did something wrong, and she realized she couldn't trust me, so now she's going to ensure that I can't do anything behind her back!_

She laid on the bed and tried to think. She needed to escape, and she needed to do it immediately. But dammit, she couldn't focus with him staring at her!

She rolled over away from him. She still felt his eyes drilling into her back. She looked over her shoulder and glared at him. He didn't respond. Feeling defeated, she sat up and folded her hands in her lap. It didn't help that it was well past midnight, and she was incredibly tired-

Of course.

She held back a smile. That would be perfect.

She looked at him one more time, pointedly, and sighed loudly enough that she was sure he had heard her. Then, she looked away, and began undoing the top several buttons on her blouse.

"What are you doing?" the soldier demanded.

"I'm going to sleep," Maddie said. "I'm not going to bed fully-clothed." She carried on undoing buttons as if she actually intended to disrobe – if all went according to plan, of course, she wouldn't have to go that far.

"Very well," the man said. "I'll just... I'll wait outside-"

"No, wait! Didn't Caudgel tell you to guard me? You have to wait here!"

"It would be improper-"

Maddie rolled her eyes. "Like I said! Just turn around for a bit! I'll tell you when it's okay to look."

The soldier considered this for a moment.

He nodded, and turned to face the wall.

Maddie would have grinned if that was all it took. But she wasn't sure if she was ready for the next part of the plan.

She took several deep breaths, fidgeting with her clothing to make it sound like she was actually getting undressed. But when she felt prepared, she quietly slipped off the bed and picked the knife up off the bedside table. She extended the blade and tiptoed behind the guard, and examined his back. She found the place where she assumed his heart would be, and held her knife tightly in her grip.

She shivered involuntarily. Could she really do it? Could she kill someone who had done nothing to her, just to escape? There had to be another way. She just had to think carefully. Maybe there was another option. Surely the situation could be salvaged.

But as she hovered there, a foot behind her guard's back, knife raised, she found she couldn't think of anything else. Nothing that would work, anyway. This was a surefire way to get out of the room unnoticed; everything else was guesswork, and it was always best to go with a sure thing rather than a gamble, right? But then again, it was a gamble to come here in the first place..

_Oh, nevermind that_, she told herself. _It's just a little bit of mortal injury, right? The Warriors of Vale did it on a number of occasions. It has to be okay if you do it to a bad guy._

But this guard wasn't a bad guy. Not necessarily. He was just a regular person, manipulated by an evil man, and in the wrong place at the wrong time. And even if he was a bad guy, was it alright to kill bad guys? That was exactly the sort of thing a bad guy would do.

...And yet, if she didn't do it, she might be in serious trouble. She had gone beyond the point of no return. If she gave up, he might find out that she wasn't actually on his side, or that woman could come back, or the Empyror himself could show up, and... and then ACTUALLY make her defect, and...

She lost her composure for the split-second it took to let out the smallest whimper.

The guard perked up. "Miss? Is something wrong-"

She screamed in surprise and, more out of reflex than anything else, brought the knife down with as much force as she could-

* * *

Maddie didn't know how long she stared at the body.

Several minutes, at least. Probably more. The blood was everywhere. People didn't bleed that fast, did they? There was so, so much of it...

She had committed a crime. It was unforgivable. Murder. It was the worst possible thing that any human being could ever do. She had done it all for the sake of escape, and for what? So she could escape and help her friends commit murder again and again?

She felt sick to her stomach. She cried and cried. It was on the floor, and it was on her hands. Oh gods, it was on her hands-

The door flew open.

"Wh... _what happened here?_"

It was her. It was Caudgel, and she had caught Maddie in the act. Everything was going wrong, she had killed someone, and now she was going to die, oh gods above, she had made a mistake...

Maddie stammered aimlessly for a few moments, but even if she could have formed coherent syllables, she was crying too hard for anyone to make sense of her. She was terrified, and she was so, so guilt-ridden.

Caudgel looked at Maddie, then at the soldier's body. Her fists clenched tightly, and her face was alight with fury.

She kicked the body with all her might, and knelt down next to Maddie, patting the girl's shoulder ever-so-gently.

"Just... just calm down, everything's fine," she said. "He's not getting up. You don't have to worry anymore."

Huh?

Maddie followed Caudgel's gaze, and realized what the scene must have looked like. A bodyguard, stabbed to death on the floor... and Maddie, her clothing messy and wrinkled and partially undone. The horrified sobbing would have added to the effect, and...

If she hadn't been so affected by the murder she had just committed, Maddie would have laughed out loud at how well it had all turned out.

"He... he came after me," she stammered. "And he tried to touch me, and I said no, but he wouldn't listen, so... so I..."

Her mind raced as she tried to think of an excuse and sink back into the role she had created. But try as she might, she couldn't focus on anything but the body, and the blood, and the knife that_ she_ put there.

Why? Why had she done it?

Caudgel brought Maddie into a warm, caring hug.

"Don't worry. It was my fault for leaving you alone with him," she said. "Is everything alright? Did he...?"

Maddie shook her head. "Just... just the clothes. And then I... oh, gods, is he dead? I killed him... I killed somebody..." She ever-so-carefully let her emotions come to the surface again, and the tears poured forth anew. She was careful not to lose herself in the guilt. She still had a job to do. But... it was easier than staying stone-faced, like she had up until that point.

Caudgel patted her back and helped her to her feet. "You did the right thing," she said. "And... I know it's hard the first time you take a life. But it gets easier from here. Trust me."

"Th... thanks."

"It's no problem. Get yourself fixed up, and I'll take you someplace safer. I have to sound the alarms first, but... well, I can take you somewhere I used to love to spend time. There'll be nobody else around, and nobody will hurt you, and there are plenty of books for you to read, and all sorts of things to learn. You'll be alone until I come to get you. Alright?"

Maddie nodded mutely and began to do up her blouse again.

"Good. Maddie, I..."

Caudgel trailed off.

She bent down, pulled the knife from the soldier's back, and wiped it on her robe. She folded it shut again, and held it out for the girl.

"You can keep this," Caudgel said. "I'd rather you have a way to defend yourself, just in case."

Maddie shrunk back as the knife came toward her, harmless though it was in its current state. She just... she just didn't want to touch it again. It was almost like if she held it the wrong way she might accidently murder someone else. It wasn't a responsibility she was ready for.

But Caudgel stared expectantly, her arm held outward. The younger girl pushed aside her worries, storing them away for later, when it was safe to simply panic again, and yanked the weapon out of Caudgel's hand.

Caudgel smiled softly, and turned away.

She opened the door, and hesitated.

"I should really tell you... I'm proud of you, okay?" she said. "I just... I want you to know that. I'll wait for you outside. Don't take too long, we're pressed for time. But you should make sure you've fully recovered before we go."

Caudgel left and shut the door behind her.

Maddie nodded. She thought nothing of the words. She just stared blankly at the weapon in her hand, and at the body in front of her.

She squeezed her eyes shut, blocking out the world, and shoved the knife's case into her pocket. It hung there, feeling much, much more heavy than it had just a few minutes before. It was a cold blade, but it burned her thigh through her clothing.

She tried her best to ignore it as she redid her buttons and made herself presentable again.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_tuaparang has photography okay_

_they invented it because you need photography to have spies i guess_

_just go along with it_

_I guess this is something I should have clarified a while ago, but... well, I've never found any sort of official age listing for the Dark Dawn characters. There are a few we can guess at, like Eoleo, but it looks to me like everyone has their own idea of how old everybody is. The Golden Sun Wiki has listings for some, but they seem to have come out of nowhere, and other sources are inconsistent._

_So, a list of how old everybody is at this point in the story:_

_Matthew: 17_

_Tyrell: 17_

_Karis: 16 _

_Rief: 16 - The GS Wiki lists him as friggin' 13. I just don't see how that's possible. He looks too old for that._

_Amiti: 19 - I seem to remember something about how the Alchemy Well was activated "20 years before" Dark Dawn, so this is the only age that makes sense._

_Sveta: 17_

_Eoleo: 32_

_Himi: No idea, somewhere between 10 and 13._

_Isaac: 47 _

_Garet: 47 _

_Ivan: 44 _

_Mia: 47_

_Felix: 48 _

_Jenna: 46 _

_Sheba: 45_

_Piers: Very Old _

_Kraden: Old_

_All of the characters from GS 1 and 2 are physically in their mid-to-late twenties, except for Piers, who I figure would still be carrying the lingering effects of the Lemurian Draught when the Golden Sun happened – he looks roughly the same age as before, maybe a bit older, ie. probably 19 or 20. Kraden is also old as hell, just like in DD._

_Nowell: 18_

_High Empyror: 30_

_Chalis: 26_

_Caudgel: 33_

_Maddie: 16 (almost 17)_

_Karst: Technically 48, but was in a stasis tube thing for 20 years, and was also affected by the Golden Sun, so physically mid-twenties._

_Hopefully that clears a few things up. _

_Oh, and just a minor thing... I deleted Brighter Future from the Extras. I just wasn't happy with it, I didn't feel like ever doing Part 2, it was full of characters blatantly stolen from Mass Effect, and I don't feel like it has any real use as part of the story. The main character of that story will be returning at some point (that's why I wrote the story in the first place) but I've spent some time fleshing out his character a bit more, so he should be interesting beyond his initial cameo value._

_Next chapter... let's say November 17th. I know a 3-day schedule will probably be damn-near impossible for me to keep, but I want to see what happens. I might be underestimating my own abilities._

_Oh, and I'd like to give a shout-out to Anti-Viper, who has written several jillion excellent fics in the past week or two that you should all check out. He wrote Shoreline, which is the first good Karis/Rief (yes I know) fic that I've ever seen, and he has about three others (other ships) that he just put up recently that are all absolutely worth checking out. _

_Review responses:_

_CreationsGoneAwry: I actually panicked a little when you mentioned that Rief was 14, because while yes, Maddie is older, she isn't THAT much older. I did the age chart thing above just so that I could avoid any future confusion in that regard. I wish the instruction manual actually had some official age listings... that would've made things much easier. (Side note: Maddie's parents were in Vault when it was destroyed. It's a minor detail, but also a bit of irony since Caudgel was actually the one who ordered the attack.)_

_Don't worry about being confused; damn near everybody was, and while it looks simple when I put it into plain text like that, part of my job is to take that information and fit it into the story in an understandable way. I didn't do that properly the first time around, and the author's note explanation shouldn't have been necessary. Sorry!_

_Pr Kaos: Sorry to worry you! Something actually kinda did happen to me (I sprained my wrist... could have written anyway but I was in no mood whatsoever) but I'm still alive and I'm all better now. Comments last chapter still stand, though; I have a ton going on outside of writing._

_The guy who keeps asking for an m-rated Matthew/Sveta fic: STOP ASKING FOR A GORRAM MATTHEW/SVETA LEMONFIC._

_GYY: I want to be all coy and say that Mia's current allegiance is a mystery, but no, she's pretty blatantly defected to team evil. We have a villain who can basically indoctrinate whomever he likes, and he had an opportunity to try it on Mia. Later on, we saw her contemplating murdering Karst because of her twisted priorities, and even if she was in some sort of deep-cover double-agent thing, there was no one around at the time. She wasn't doing it for anybody's benefit._


	60. The Landing

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"So, are you sure you'll be alright?" Caudgel asked. "You've just been through a harrowing experience, to say the least. If you want me to get you anything, a drink or a snack or-"

"I'm fine, thanks," Maddie muttered.

They had reached the archives. Caudgel was warning everyone in her path about the imminent invasion by the Warriors of Vale, so by the time they had arrived, the building was mostly empty; all nonessential personnel had gone home, or gone to provide what assistance they could at the docks.

Good. Much less chance of something unfortunate happening to her daughter again. Bloody soldiers were supposed to obey the Empyror's will... What good was his manipulation if it couldn't stop a guy from assaulting a helpless girl?

"I have other things to do," she said to the younger girl. "Just wait here for now, you should be safe with everybody else off doing other things. And you can read whatever you want. This is basically the knowledge centre for the entire city, so, I dunno, if you're into science, there's a lot of stuff to learn. And, of course, we've got pretty much the entire life story of every Warrior of Vale in here too. Those are entertaining, I suppose."

Maddie shrugged. She kept staring at her hands – not aimless staring, either, as if her hands happened to be what she was looking at. It was a pointed, direct stare, tinged with hopelessness.

Caudgel felt an uncomfortable churning in her stomach. She knew she had to do something, or say something, but she had no idea what. She felt woefully underprepared.

Instinctively, she almost made up her mind to go to the archives and see what she could learn there, before realizing that she was already there, already busy, and... well, perhaps the girl wouldn't accept her help in the first place.

She did what she could.

"I doubt anyone will come in here for some time," she said. "I'll be returning soon with Mia in tow, so as far as I know we're the next ones you should expect."

Maddie straightened for a moment at Mia's name, but then she seemed to shrink even further. She wrapped her arms around herself and crossed her legs. Her expression was unreadable.

"If the Empyror arrives," Caudgel continued, "hide. Just... I don't know. There are other rooms around here. Be somewhere he is not, if at all possible. He'll want to ensure your allegiance, and to do that, he'll have to..."

She trailed off as the horrifying realization occurred to her: she couldn't hide Maddie forever.

"You'll need to meet with him eventually," she said, mind racing and scrambling to find some way out of this situation. "But... maybe I can convince him that you're trustworthy, or maybe... maybe we can just convince him that manipulation is too difficult or unnecessary... I..."

Caudgel gritted her teeth and let out a quiet growl.

"I'll figure this out," she said. "Don't worry. In the meantime, don't let him find you if you want to keep your mind your own. I'll be back in a few minutes. Are you sure you're-"

"I'm _fine._"

"...Good. Be safe."

Caudgel forced herself to turn and leave, for as much as she wanted to stay, she knew her duties were much more important in the long run. There would be time later.

A sudden spark of inspiration occurred to her as she opened the door to leave; she was in the archives, where a good amount of Tuaparang technology was stored for future use. She quickened her pace and made for one of the storage rooms, making a mental checklist of useful items to gather.

She was distracted enough as she left that she didn't notice Maddie eyeing a collection of papers that stood out from the rest, disorganized and hastily replaced as it had been. The edges of the folder were crinkled, too, as if it had been gripped far too hard by some unknown reader after a panicked revelation (hypothetically speaking).

Maddie moved to examine the folder.

* * *

It was lucky for the Tuaparang soldiers that they had gotten advance warning. If they hadn't been prepared, it would have been no fight at all.

Through some resourcefulness, they had managed to gather some of the wreckage from Felix's earlier escape and fashion it into barricades. A little bit of jury-rigging from the engineers, and any functioning machine guns left over from the destroyed airships were set up as defensive emplacements, directed toward the open docking bay. There were enough salvaged parts to make three such emplacements. Each was defended by two of the six surviving Psynergy absorption nets; they had been linked together to project the field further than before. Even the heat radiation produced by a top-level Supernova wouldn't be enough to do more than make the soldiers sweat a little from that distance.

So all of the remaining soldiers took up defensive positions inside of these fields, autocrossbows at the ready, assisted by the most powerful weapon science had ever produced (in recorded history), and guarded by defensive sandbags, twisted steel, and a glowing purple shroud that took away their opponents' greatest (and only) advantage while leaving them unaffected.

As a final measure, they took some of the remaining explosives – those left over from trying to cut off Felix's escape – and used them to mangle the open landing area. It would be impossible to land safely in that sort of terrain.

Unfortunately for the Tuaparang soldiers, a safe landing had never been in the Warriors' plan.

* * *

Felix stepped out of the cockpit.

"Okay, so I have some good news and some bad news," he said. "The good news is that we're there, and I'll be able to fly us inside the docking bay. The bad news is that they're heavily entrenched, the entrance has no cover, and we have no landing gear. It'll be a rough landing."

"And you have no weapon," Jenna added helpfully. "Don't forget about that."

Felix shook his head. "I'll pick up somebody's autocrossbow when I get the chance, I got some basic training with them a few years back and any idiot can fire one. I'd prefer a sword, but I'll take what I can get. We'll need somebody who can hit at range anyway; they've got more of those draining fields up, and even though Garet and I can stand to be in them for a bit, we still need to be able to soften them up before getting in close. Rief, you'll need to-"

whrrrrrr

CLUNKCLUNK-kssssh-CLUNK

"Aaargh!"

Felix fell to his knees, clutching his shoulder. There was a hiss of air as the cabin decompressed, and there was a set of spiderweb-cracks in the cockpit window around some brand new bullet-holes. The airship shook, and Rief almost stumbled as he reflexively stood to offer aid. He caught his balance, though, and expertly mended the bullet wound in moments.

"Yeah, that! Thanks!" Felix shouted over the rushing air. "I have a plan! Everyone, keep your weapons sheathed, and ready any defensive Djinn you've got! They put out a LOT of energy, and we'll need to counteract the-"

CLUNKCLUNK zipzipzip!

Felix cursed.

He ducked down and went back to the controls. He swung the craft down a little, pointed it in the direction he wanted, and gunned it for all it was worth.

Then he ran into the passenger compartment, slamming the door behind him.

"BRACE YOURSELF!" he cried, diving to the floor as everyone tried to grab hold of something-

* * *

When the airship began to tip and tumble, the Tuaparang Warriors thought they had won.

It rotated in mid-air, flipping sideways and swiping the floor of the dock, propeller grinding horrifically against the steel surface before simply tearing itself apart, sending debris flying everywhere. The door was thrown open by the force of the crash, too, and a few bodies fell out, tumbling and scattering out in the open.

But the airship wreck kept moving, its incredible momentum barely interrupted by the friction, and it skidded loudly toward the machine gun enclosure closest to the wall. It didn't seem to be slowing down.

So the soldiers in that nest panicked and ran for the next spot over.

The airship screeched along the floor, sliding every which way, until it entered the drainage field produced by the twinned Psynergy nets. The field seemed to turn solid white for just a moment, and then the airship collided with the net assembly with a horrifying crunch.

The field vanished completely.

The warriors watched the husk, but the open door was hidden on the opposite side of the wreck. If anyone came out, they wouldn't be able to see until the interlopers revealed themselves.

It was then that one of the machine gunners noticed that the bodies that had fallen out of the airship were still moving.

It opened fire.

* * *

The world spun as Matthew tried to get his bearings.

As far as he could tell, he had fallen out of the airship when it crashed. His ears were ringing from the rushing air and the screeching metal, and he tasted blood. He spat on the floor. Yep, definitely blood. The pain that registered an instant later told him that he had just bitten his tongue, though; nothing too serious.

Then he noticed the sparks dancing across the ground all around him. One of them struck his hand, and it jerked backward as he felt a rush of psynergy burst from the area. Something big had hit him; he didn't feel it, and it didn't hurt him, because he was lucky enough to have summoned Chasm right before the fall. That psynergy burst must have been the Djinni absorbing the blow.

Matthew looked around to see where it had come from, and only then noticed the heavy weapons firing at him.

He scrambled to his feet and started running.

"Matthew!"

Another surge of psynergy got his heart pounding, until he realized it hadn't come from his person. A short, but thick and wide, wall of ice had formed just a few feet away from his position, and Rief was rushing toward it from the opposite side. Rief slid and came to a rest, sitting with his back to the wall, before beckoning Matthew to hurry.

Matthew doubled his speed, but hazarded a glance toward the machine gun nest. It was still firing on him, and by this point the other one had started firing too. To add to the threat, a few crossbow bolts had taken to the air, but relatively speaking, they were hardly an issue.

One bolt flew toward him, and right before it would have struck him in the arm, it twisted and distorted, then vanished. He felt a light tug where it would have hit, but felt none of the pain. There was another painless hammerblow to his side, but he only stumbled. He was just another half-second from reaching cover.

Then the world flipped 90 degrees and he found himself facefirst on the ground.

He felt a hand grab his, and he was dragged a short distance. He tried to struggle against it instinctively, but only one of his legs seemed to be doing anything. His vision felt somewhat cloudy, and everything felt kind of... floaty...

There was a torrent of psynergy, and Rief flipped him over, waving a hand in front of his face as tracers zipped by above him.

"Stay down for a sec," Rief said. "You're healed already, but you should wait to get your bearings before making any quick movements."

Rief moved away, and Matthew felt more psynergy pouring out into the space nearby. He heard the crackling of ice, and felt the floor shake as someone landed next to him.

He decided to ignore the chaos of battle for a moment to examine his surroundings.

First, he looked up behind him at the short wall of ice that served as a protective barrier. It was cracked quite worryingly in some places, but it would serve for now; he pulled himself up against it and sat up.

Then he noticed a large, bloody hole in his right pant leg. The skin underneath it was pink and fresh-looking, and he realized that it must have been newly repaired. If those weapons really could do that much damage from just a single hit...

"Wow," Matthew breathed. "Thanks for that."

Rief didn't hear him over the heavy weapons fire.

* * *

Tyrell panted heavily on Matthew's opposite side. He had seen his friend go down, and was worried for a moment that he wouldn't make it, but Rief came through, and luckily, the distraction Matthew produced was enough for Tyrell to make it the rest of the way unmolested. A short distance away, Tyrell saw Isaac running for the same improvised cover they were all huddling behind, and he felt Rief pouring out energy to extend it that extra bit of distance.

Isaac swung his sword out once, twice, each time swatting a bullet out of the air that might have caused him serious harm. He dodged awkwardly away from another projectile that zipped by, and then dove for the wall.

No one else was out in the open. That meant that Garet, Jenna and Felix were still in the wrecked airship.

Tyrell gave a mental shrug. They were probably safer there anyway.

He gave Matthew a rough slap on the shoulder. "Thanks for distracting them for me, bud! Hope your leg's doing okay."

Matthew jumped in surprise. "Oh!" he said. "I didn't see you there. Are you alright? Did everybody else fall out, too?"

Tyrell shook his head. "Just you, me, Rief, and your dad. He's on the other side of Ice Boy there. Never thought I'd be saying this, but we'd be in serious trouble if Rief wasn't here."

Rief rolled his eyes. "Much appreciated," he called dryly.

Matthew furrowed his brow in thought. He surveyed the area quickly, and fingered his scarf absent-mindedly. Tyrell could never really track Matthew's train of thought, but he knew that the scarf-fingering was a signal not to interrupt him. In the past, it meant a sharp glare, and a lecture from Karis. Now that Matthew was talking, he might give a lecture too. Tyrell kept his mouth shut.

Isaac didn't.

"Jenna's still there," he said. "I have to get to her somehow. That crash can't have been comfortable. I hope she's okay..."

"We all need to get behind more solid cover," Matthew agreed. "Rief's doing a great job, but ice isn't the most resilient material, and-"

A long, wide crack went through the entire wall as another barrage hit it. Rief put his hands on the break and poured his energy into it to fix it, then put in a bit more for good measure to thicken their makeshift defenses.

"Yeah. Having to repair it every two seconds won't be good for your psynergy reserves, and you still need to perform healing duty. Tyrell, you've got a djinni who can restore power, right?"

"Yup."

"Good. Use him as often as possible. Which reminds me," Matthew closed his eyes for a second, and there was a bright yellow flash. "Chasm's ready to go again if we need him now. Right, so Rief, keep up the cover until we find a better idea. Tyrell, keep him fueled. And, umm... Dad, you should..."

Matthew obviously wasn't used to giving his father orders like the rest of his team. And he obviously wasn't used to taking them.

So he ignored Matthew completely.

"I'm heading over to the wreck," Isaac said. "Cover me."

"Got it!" Tyrell said. Finally, something he could do!

He jumped out of cover and tried to make himself as attractive a target as possible, ignoring everyone else's shouts and complaints.

He might not have been able to stop the weapons from firing, but he could certainly make them stop firing at Isaac!

* * *

"Shoot!" Matthew shouted. Almost on queue, a bullet zipped by his head, and another skimmed the top of the ice barrier, sending bits of powder flying.

He stumbled to his feet and unleashed Chasm just in time to save Tyrell from a fate that would undoubtedly have been rather messy and graphic, but the other boy was still knocked off his feet and sent flying some distance back by the sheer force of fire.

Matthew crouch-ran to where Tyrell had landed and dragged him back to safety. By the time he felt it was safe to examine the situation again, Isaac was already three quarters of the way to the airship's crash site. Luckily, the machine guns had been too busy with Tyrell to risk changing targets.

It was a bizarre miracle, but at least it worked.

Matthew hit Rief with the back of his hand to get his attention.

"If you're using Cold Snap to keep this wall going, I think we should probably just swap djinn. Something tells me two healers will be better than one for the next little while."

Rief laughed, and they did the transfer as quickly as they could.

* * *

Felix awoke in a lot of pain.

Part of it was because he and the others had gone through a very powerful drainage field. He had the residual numbness in the pit of his stomach that he had grown accustomed to, the feeling that he was completely tapped out of psynergy. It was like he had been sitting in an awkward enough position that his whole abdomen had fallen asleep, with the odd tingling that accompanied it.

Another part was the nagging ache all over that he now knew was a sign that his body was shutting down, a side-effect of the sword he had carried, and of extended psynergy deprivation. It hadn't gotten any worse, but it hadn't really gotten any better, either. He was privately a little glad that he didn't have a sword on him; he wasn't feeling up for a close-quarters fight.

The main source of the pain was probably the airship crash, though. That had a lot to do with it. And his weakened bones and blood vessels didn't really help matters.

He opened his eyes to find himself lying on the wall (now the floor) of the airship cabin. He saw Garet crouching near the open door, awake and alert. He also saw his sister lying facedown on the floor, unmoving.

He hoped she was alive.

Holding onto that motivation, he tested each of his limbs – nothing in his arms or legs seemed broken, mercifully, though his ribs definitely needed help – and, making a noise that was half-groan, half-roar, he brought himself up to his knees. He spat on the floor, leaving a bloody splatter (with no teeth, luckily!), and wiped his mouth on his sleeve.

"How long have I been out?" he croaked. Garet gave Felix a quick wave in acknowledgement.

"Less than a minute," Garet replied. "Everybody else fell out. Mia's boy made a big ice block thing for them to hide behind, then your nephew got shot in the leg. Rief's healing him now. Jenna's alive, by the way. Just passed out."

"From the psynergy drain, most likely," Felix mused. "I'm impressed that you managed to resist it even in your, uh... calm state."

The Mars Adept grinned and shrugged. "Ah, I went through enough of that back in Bilibin, and we weren't in the field long. I think my djinni, Flash, took the brunt of it."

"That was the plan. If the others had theirs out too, we might've had a running start. I didn't plan for the door to pop open, but..."

"Yeah, that's alright. Right now we need to do something to help the others, and those other little groups of guys are still protected by the cloudy glowy thingies, firing the loud spinny tubes at Rief's block of ice. Any ideas?"

Felix groaned.

He pulled himself to his feet, ignoring the creaking pain in his joints. He staggered toward the door, carefully stepping over Jenna, and stopped next to Garet.

"How did we land?" he asked. "Which side are the guns on?"

Garet jerked his thumb over his shoulder. "They're on the other side of what used to be the floor. We can actually use the walkway as a shield, sorta, to get out of the ship. There's nobody else in this dugout, so we actually have some breathing room if you want to take a look around on this side."

Felix nodded, and peeked out.

"Holy crap!" he said. "The other machine gun's right there! Nobody's even on it! We can just pick it up and use it wherever-"

"Hey! HEY NO, WAIT! TYRELL, YOU GOON!"

Felix's head snapped back to see Isaac running toward him. A second later, he registered Tyrell taking a hail of bullets to the chest.

Tyrell got back up, of course, having been saved by some trick or another (probably alchemical in origin), and Garet groaned loudly.

"That idiot boy of mine..." the Mars Adept muttered. But his tone quickly changed to a welcoming one. "Isaac! Good job making it over here safely."

Felix stepped back to give Isaac room behind the door, but the other man just stepped around and knelt near Jenna.

"How is she?" Isaac asked.

"She'll recover soon," Felix said. "Right now we need to save the kids. There's another machine gun we can just pick up and reposition, and if we can just fill the air with enough bullets to keep their heads down-"

"Garet, can you handle that?" Isaac interrupted.

Garet flashed a thumbs-up. "With gusto!" And he vanished around the corner.

Isaac reached for his waist and opened a small pack at his hip. "What does she need?" he asked. "I've got herbs, I've got a few antidotes..."

"She needs her psynergy restored. If you don't have any crystals handy, I've got the djinn for it."

"Yeah, I'm all out of those. It looks like I can't really be of much help here... I'll go with Garet, for what it's worth, and see what I can do over there. Are you sure you've got this?"

"She's my sister," Felix said sternly. "I'll do whatever's necessary to keep her safe."

Isaac grinned flippantly. "Well, she's my wife, so if you let anything happen-"

He paused as he glanced out of the airship doorway, the way Garet had went.

"...Where'd he go?" Isaac asked.

His question was answered by a roar of gunfire on the opposite side of the ship.

* * *

Garet strained against the torque as his new weapon spun at an incredible speed, and it was almost painful to keep it aimed forward. But the results were oh-so-satisfying – the light, the noise, and the look on the faces of his enemies as they dove for cover, abandoning their posts to find safety.

"AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he laughed, marching slowly toward the enemy encampments, shooting with more enthusiasm than accuracy. "DAKKA DAKKA DAKKA!"

* * *

"Huh," said Matthew. "Well, they've stopped firing at us, at least."

* * *

"Yup!" Isaac declared. "Garet definitely needs my help. I'm gonna go with him."

"Good luck," Felix said to Isaac's back.

He then turned his attention to Jenna, releasing as many PP-restoring djinn as he could in quick succession. The kids arrived only seconds later, and Matthew and Rief cast simultaneous Pure Wishes without even exchanging pleasantries.

Felix felt as if he had fallen into a pool of chilly water for a moment, and when the feeling faded, he found that his aches and pains had mostly vanished. The coppery taste in his mouth was gone, and it even seemed that his breathing was coming more easily.

Jenna stirred.

"Well, thanks for that," Felix said. "That went well."

Matthew nodded. "Rief, Tyrell, go support the other two. I'll stick around here."

They nodded and departed, leaving Matthew alone with his mother and uncle.

Jenna rolled onto her back and rubbed her eyes. "Did we win?" she mumbled groggily.

"Not yet," Felix said with a shake of his head, "but Garet just found a chaingun, so give it another few minutes."

She got to her feet, and the three of them moved to the protected side of the airship for a better look around.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to see. The dugout was destroyed, and the gun emplacement was barren.

But they did have a good view of the doors connecting the docks to the rest of the city.

The doors, that is, as well as the Tuaparang reinforcements coming through them.

* * *

"Garet!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"GARET!"

"WHAT SICK MAN SENDS BABIES TO FIGHT ME-"

"_GARET!_"

"Huh?"

"You aren't hitting anything, and you're running low on ammunition!" Isaac said. "Quit shooting that bloody thing until you know what you're aiming at!"

"Oh."

"Okay, look, it's designed to be mounted on stuff for accuracy. Let's just set it up on the floor... like... this..."

A crossbow bolt thudded into Isaac's shoulder, and he realized how exposed they were. That gunfire had kept the warriors' heads down, and now that it had stopped, they were very, very vulnerable.

In a panic, Isaac tried to send an Earthquake toward the nearest camp, but despite all the power he poured into it, there was no visible response; it took him a moment to realize that they were, in fact, in midair, making his earthshaking abilities moot. He then attempted to unleash an Odyssey, but the storm of spiritual swords simply faded as they struck the soldiers' protective shell.

"Uh... Garet?"

"Yeah?"

"Flash, please."

* * *

Felix groaned. "I knew that wasn't all of them," he said. "It was impressive enough that they were ready for us at all. We need to take them out before they manage to flank Garet and Isaac... those two have enough on their hands to deal with."

Without a word, Matthew stretched out his hands and let out a torrent of psynergy. In the distance, the Tuaparang soldiers suddenly found that it had gotten a lot wetter, as the Froth Sphere attack left them practically drowning in orbs of summoned water. Matthew seemed to be focusing on dispersion rather than damage; he was hitting all of the soldiers, but not as hard as Felix guessed he was capable of. It did a good job of distracting them, however, buying time for Isaac and Garet to do their job.

Jenna looked at Felix and shrugged. Then, with her trademark heat rays, she followed her son's lead, though to a much more damaging extent.

It was much easier without having to worry about the drainage arrays.

As the surviving soldiers turned and ran for the door they had come in through, however, a slow realization crept into Felix's head. If those troops managed to dig in on the opposite side of the door, it would be very, very hard to get out. The fact that they were coming in at all seemed to imply that such an emplacement didn't exist yet, but knowing the Tuaparang, it wouldn't take long to get something set up. It seemed cruel, but the enemy escape route had to be cut off, or the mission would be over before it had even begun.

"Jenna!" Felix shouted. "Djinn swap, right now, then follow my lead! Matthew, keep up the barrage until we land, and then come after us when you think it's safe!"

The moment she heard "land," Jenna seemed to know what Felix had planned. She had gotten in the habit, years ago, of following her brother's orders in combat anyway, but as she extended a hand to swap one of her Mars Djinni for a Venus, she placed her other hand on her blade.

Felix took her hand, felt his Djinn re-organize themselves, and then focused his psynergy into his new Mars companion.

Heat and flame began to emanate out from him, and as he took off into the sky, a streaking ball of fire, he didn't need to look back to know that his sister had done the same.

* * *

Isaac mentally counted the seconds until Flash's effect wore off.

It was very, very difficult to maintain focus, especially because he knew he wouldn't be able to do a thing when the effect finally ended.

The bullets and arrows flying through the air caused him and Garet no physical damage, nor did they cause pain, but some of the force behind each blow still made its way through. It was like Isaac was experiencing the heaviest rainstorm he had ever been in, except the storm was coming at him _sideways_. There was nowhere to take cover, and there was no way to run; if Isaac had tried to stand, he knew he would be knocked over in an instant. And while Garet had an ability that might help a bit - he could energize his and Isaac's metal body armor so that it would react to incoming contact and protect more effectively - Garet had never really been any GOOD at it, and Isaac was becoming painfully aware of how little their body armor actually covered.

Not for the first time, he lamented his decision to dress for looks rather than for practicality.

He saw the machine gun only a few feet away. He had no idea how much ammunition it still had. He had no idea how to actually fire it.

He dove for it anyway.

And his outstretched hand stopped about an inch short of the closest part of the weapon.

* * *

But as Rief threw out a Froth Sphere and a Cold Snap in quick succession, forming a rather large barrier between the embattled adults and their opponents, there was no such stress in his mind. He just gave a mental shrug and thought, _where would the party be without me?_

Tyrell slid into place behind the barrier - literally slid, foot outstretched, just to be flashy - and grabbed the weapon away from Isaac's hand.

"My turn!" he shouted with glee, as Rief pulled the adults to safety. Tyrell planted the gun on top of the barrier, hid as much of himself as he could behind it, and just went nuts.

Thankful for the distraction, Rief glanced out at the enemy emplacement. Their machine gun was now unmanned, its gunner one of the first victims of Tyrell's initial barrage, and the rest of the troops had their heads down. The Adepts were more or less out-of-danger.

So Rief bent down, yanked the crossbow bolt out of Isaac's shoulder, and kicked out the biggest Pure Wish he was capable of.

At that moment, he heard a loud crack in the distance. The drain array in the enemy camp snapped in half, having been hit by a critical number of randomly-fired machine gun rounds. The dark shadow shield vanished, and the troops were left completely exposed.

Garet and Isaac cautiously glanced over the barrier, and when they realized what had happened, they opened up with whatever psynergy they had available - mostly Odyssey from Isaac, but an impressive display of fire and explosions from Garet.

"Way to go, Tyrell!" Garet shouted.

"Yeah," said Isaac, "you really helped us out."

Rief made a mental note to maybe just leave the crossbow bolt in next time. Mercury Adepts, in his opinion, never got the appreciation they deserved.

* * *

The seconds seemed to crawl by as Jenna flew toward the final group of enemy warriors. She saw Felix arcing toward the ground, closer to the doorway to the docks than she was. The two of them had the element of surprise, she noted, and as the single soldier with some foresight turned to see her, she saw that his weapon was completely out of position. She saw Felix smash into someone's upper torso, the blastwave from his descent knocking anyone nearby to the ground, and in a single, smooth motion as he found his way to the floor, he tore the autocrossbow from the defeated soldier's hands and went to work.

Jenna followed his lead, drawing her own sword as she made contact with her target, and struck out at the hamstrings of one, two, three soldiers to disable them. She hopped away gracefully into the nearest crowd, detonated a Mad Blast to finish the incapacitated warriors, and repeated the process.

The battle was over in seconds. She chided herself for inefficiency, cursing how long it had been since she and Felix had last fought together; several of the fallen soldiers had both burn wounds and crossbow bolts sticking out of vital locations.

Felix reloaded his autocrossbow with practiced ease - he must have learned to use one at some point, serving with the Tuaparang military - and stuffed a few reloads into his belt for easy access.

"Now for the tricky part," Felix said. "There might be a few more holed up on the other side of these doors, and we'll never be able to reach them before they can open fire. We've lost the crucial element of surprise, but-"

That was when Matthew finally reached them.

Or rather, it was a split second after he reached them, and it was about simultaneous with his leap into the air and powerful downward swing.

A massive, dazzling ball of light flew forth, completely eradicating the door and a good amount of the floor around it. Before the smoke cleared, Matthew jumped over the wreckage blindly, charging into the darkness. Visibility was restored just in time for Jenna to see Matthew swing his sword one last time, purging the defenders with Radiant Fire.

"I didn't know it could do that," said Felix.

* * *

When Isaac and the others arrived at the recently-cleared exit, they found Jenna, Felix and Matthew waiting patiently. Felix, however, was not empty-handed; he had a pad of paper and a pen that he had managed to find, and he was busily sketching simple maps for everyone to carry - a few easy-to-notice landmarks, some likely ambush locations, and of course, their three main targets.

Felix and Jenna had already traded their Djinn back, and when Matthew and Rief had done the same, the meeting began.

As he handed out the maps, he quickly explained Tuaparang's layout - he glazed over anything about infrastructure and culture, because that wasn't the point. But he made certain that everyone knew about the Palace, the Hospital, and the Archives, and which directions they laid in.

"The Palace is where the Empyror lives, studies, and does all of his work," Felix said. "If he's here, that's probably where we'll find him. If he hasn't made it to the city yet, it probably won't be the first place he'll go, especially since it's pretty obvious that an invasion's happening. But he'll head there eventually. That's where we make our stand, once all's said and done.

"But while we're here, a few of us have other errands to run. Jenna, you and Isaac will want to go to the Archives. That's where you'll find all the files that we... that _they_ kept on everyone. If the truth is out there, that's where you'll find it. It might take some searching, of course. It's a pretty huge building, and it's also where they keep all their technological research. Without a guide, you may have a tough time finding what you're looking for, but don't rush. We can probably face the Empyror without you if need be, and I'd rather not leave this unresolved.

"As for me... I need to head to the hospital. I have unfinished business to take care of."

Felix finished his speech somewhat quietly, trying in vain to direct attention away from his last statement. But Rief heard it, and a grin slowly appeared on his face.

He smacked his fist into his open hand. "I'm going with you!" he declared. "Tuaparang's a high-tech city, right? That could mean great things for their medical research! I gotta see what I can sink my teeth into-"

"I'd _really_ rather you didn't," Felix said. "And anyway, like I said, the Archives is where you want to look for research stuff-"

"Not if I want to see what's been put into practice! They'll need to keep the important stuff on hand, like textbooks and machinery and so forth. And anyway," Rief muttered, "I don't really want to intrude into what Isaac and Jenna are doing..."

"I'll be going to the Archives too," Matthew commented. "I want to see how this all turns out... one way or another."

There was a short silence, punctuated by Jenna when she patted her son on his shoulder. Mumbling some quick words of consolation, her stance and body language made it clear that she would prefer for her whole family to be there. There were no objections.

"If it's any help," Isaac said to Felix, "you might want to consider that the Empyror's probably got a trap planned for you. He knows where you'll be going, and bringing along a medic won't be a bad idea. And in any case... well, consider the nature of your mission. If things go poorly, well, a doctor might mean the difference between success and failure."

Everyone else was mystified, but the two eldest Venus Adepts shared a meaningful silence. Felix nodded in understanding and appreciation before gesturing for Rief to follow along. The boy shrugged, not wanting to jeopardize his little excursion with nosy questions, and the others just let it go.

"Tyrell and I will probably head straight for the palace then, if that's okay," Garet said. "We'll clear the way for you and just camp outside the boss doors, y'know? Keep our momentum going."

Felix nodded thoughtfully. "That's a great idea actually. If anyone was going to risk meeting His Highness, it should be the people who'll be immune to his indoctrination. If the worst happens, you'll also be the best suited to taking him down; he's probably a psynergy specialist, and you'll be able to avoid or shake off most of what he can dish out. Meanwhile, if you can get him fighting, he might be too distracted or tired to indoctrinate the rest of us, which is a serious plus."

"I'm bringing the machine gun!" Tyrell said helpfully.

"No you aren't," Garet chided, "because_ I'M_ bringing the machine gun."

With all of their plans in place, the group split into three: Isaac, Jenna and Matthew headed to the Archives; Felix and Rief headed to the Hospital; and Tyrell and Garet made a beeline for the Palace, heavy weapon in tow. There was no doubt in anyone's mind about the success of the main objective. After all, they were all either Warriors of Vale, or descendants thereof. What could possibly go wrong?

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Quick selfplug: I wrote this thing called Mad Queen of Morgal, which is an M-rated story centered on Sveta that takes place after Dark Dawn ended. It isn't canon with DoJ, and it's much, much darker than the other stuff I've put up on . That said, it's gotten some great reviews, and I'm rather proud of it. If you can take a bit of graphic violence (the one explicit sex scene has been removed...) then I wholeheartedly invite you to check it out!_

_The order of the day is review responses, though, because there's a big one that I want to address You'll know it when I get to it:_

_Hackshin: Why, thanks! I'm glad you like the story so much, and I'm sorry to have kept you waiting all this time for a continuation. The Empyror is a bit of a manchild in my story, what with the fact that he literally never had to learn to take responsibility or act with any maturity, but I still want it to be clear that he's unabashedly evil. Glad he comes off as funny, though._

_insertnamehere: Well, there are a few reasons why Tuaparang could logically be as advanced as they are. First off, there are lots of ruins and relics of a far-advanced civilization lying around, which Tuaparang could just pick up and reverse-engineer. Second, in this story, the Empyror can basically mind control anybody he likes; he can round up all of his scientists and manipulate them to the point where they want nothing more than to advance his agenda. A little motivation can go a long way. Thirdly, the Empyror knows that technology would be his main advantage over Weyard if he invaded, so of course he's going to pull all the strings he can to improve that advantage as much as possible._

_But yeah, technologically advanced Tuaparang is canon, I'm just expanding on that a bit._

_SkullRising: ...Your timing is impeccable._

_anti-viper: I agree that Maddie's character is kind of... everywhere. I started off wanting to give her some depth, but I just haven't had a chance to make her show off her super-fangirl side in a while. She's in over her head, and she's coping as well as she can, but she's emotionally in the red and that makes it kind of hard to give her happy/funny actions._

_gaiawolf: I thought of the Proxian-dragon-shapeshifting thing too. I won't actually be using it, but I can think of a way that I could reference it in the future. And for the record, Dragon-Karst would mop the floor with Beast-Sveta._

_Golden Joe: Heeeere we go._

_Thanks for that incredibly comprehensive review! I honestly, genuinely, sincerely love getting criticism. I see problems with my writing all over the place, and it makes me feel somewhat validated when other people catch them too. I'm sorry that you don't find this story very "fun to read," which I guess I sort of understand, but I definitely agree with a lot of your criticisms. Most of the story's problems, in my eyes, stem from the fact that it was very, very poorly planned out, which led to redundant characters, pointless events, and 30+ chapters of Sveta being sick and/or injured._

_That said, I do disagree with a few of your points. Some of them are simply matters of preference – you strike me as the kind of person who likes a happy ending, if you'll forgive my assumption, so I get why stuff like character injuries would take away from your enjoyment – but there are a few points you made that I can't really let slide that easily. This isn't meant to be confrontational; I just wanted to explain where I was coming from, and why it was intentional._

_-Karst's arrow through the leg. You said it was unnecessary, and didn't move the plot forward. I agree that it didn't do anything for the plot, but I disagree that that's the only reason an element needs to exist. It added a bit of realism – she's flying around getting shot at for 20 minutes, of course she's going to get hit – and it added a bit of tension in that she might have felt some longer-term effects. It also led into some nice interactions between her and Mia; you can see that Karst still holds a grudge, and you can see that while Mia has been utterly corrupted, she still has enough of her old self left to heal Karst's wounds, even considering all the hostility between them. This then leads into some Karst/Felix development, where Karst maintains the grudge despite Mia saving her life, but is willing to hold back just a bit for Felix's sake._

_-Jenna and Isaac's "thing" NEEDS to be brought up in almost every scene. It's their main plot thread, and realistically speaking, that sort of thing isn't exactly something people forget about easily. It can and will color every interaction the two of them have until it's resolved. There have been bits where they're just together, acting normally, but without the adultery thing, they are so tangentially related to the plot as to almost not be worth involving._

_-The psynergy trap scene was 100% necessary. It advanced Karis and Sveta's subplot, and the effects it had on Sveta's character – and by extension, everyone who interacts with Sveta – are crucial to several future events, including the eventual resolution of the story. It also gave me a chance to practice writing scenes with strong emotional impact, which I put to a lot of use in Mad Queen just recently._

_-I don't hate Karis or Sveta at all! I love them both! Platonically, and as much as a real person can love an imaginary figure! The thing is, as I said before, this story was poorly planned, and once in a while I felt that I had gone long enough without adding drama. If there wasn't a readily available option, I would settle on emotionally or physically hurting one of my favorite characters... in this case, Karis and Sveta. Karis is definitely going to find herself gaining more from these events than she lost, and Sveta... well, this IS a romance story._

_-Felix was in just as awkward a position as Mia. He wasn't certain she would actually cause any problems, and if Sveta hadn't been hurt, everything might have gone smoothly. But he couldn't exactly speak up and say, "Hey, I let Mia get mindfucked by the bad guy. Also, he mindfucked me a while back, but I'm better now. Kinda." _

_-Caudgel's fight with Ivan made sense because Ivan doesn't really, y'know, FIGHT people. That's perfectly plausible. And Caudgel had been planning this encounter for a very, very long time – she's just as obsessed with the Warriors as her daughter is, but for very different reasons – which is why she verbally outmatched them so hard. And, well, she's one of the generals of a military force built around the idea of defeating the Warriors of Vale. She's obviously had special training, she's probably incredibly athletic, and she's got enough tricks up her sleeve that she could even the odds in any given situation. Otherwise, the Empyror wouldn't have bothered with her._

_-The djinn thing is part of the storyline that extends beyond DoJ. I can't say more without spoiling anything, but it is literally inseparable from this story's canon._

_-The djinn arms race makes perfect sense, too. Think of it less in terms of what Tuaparang wants, and more in terms of what the Empyror wants. The Warriors of Vale are the only people who stand in the way of his ultimate victory, and their greatest advantage is their psynergy. If he can deny their abilities while empowering his own, then he'll win. While all that anti-psynergy tech might, under normal circumstances, threaten him as well, keep in mind that he has (or rather, had) total, flawless control over everyone who might wish to USE that technology. The Empyror is all about monopolizing power, which is why he has to have the ONLY Sol Djinni, he has to be the ONLY Adept who isn't threatened by the anti-psynergy tech, and, if his plan succeeds, he'll be the ONLY Adept in the entire world with the kind of godlike powers we've seen the Warriors/Children of Vale exhibit._

_Like I said, I made a ton of mistakes with DoJ. If I had the time/motivation to restart the story from the beginning, I definitely would. The fact that I needed to explain a lot of the above means that I didn't elaborate well enough in the story itself, and that's a failure on my part._

_I'm looking forward to ending this thing so that I can start fresh with a new project (or rather, the continuation to this one, without all the failure-baggage associated)._

_Knight-Dawn: Take your time! Thanks for reading, and I'm glad you've enjoyed what you've read so far. But I realize that it's a massive, massive story, and I would never expect somebody to read all of it at once..._

_Thanks for the reviews, everybody! Next planned update will be EVENTUALLY  
_


	61. Sweet Dreams Are Made Of These

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

_She felt very cold. But then, why wouldn't she? It was always cold in Prox these days. Heck, she was waist-deep in snow and improperly dressed. She should have felt much colder than she did._

_Maybe it was hypothermia or something. Yes, probably hypothermia; after all, she had been in her position for so long that she couldn't even feel her legs._

_It had been that boy, hadn't it? That weak foreign boy, the one she had been ordered to babysit while her own elder sister trained and studied and planned. Yes, the boy had somehow managed to trap her in this snow, probably in retaliation for her methods, harsh by his standards, but positively merciful by the standards of her own people. He still clung to ancient, outdated principles like right and wrong, fair and unfair. He was quick to admit weakness. The other children laughed at him, and at her by extension. If he failed to learn quickly enough, it was her fault for teaching him poorly._

_And yet, just as she understood it was his doing, she understood that he would be back sooner or later. Despite her telling him at every opportunity of the indignity of charity, he seemed to see it as worthwhile to offer help and assistance whenever he could. In Prox, to ask for help was to admit that you weren't cut out for survival. To offer help was to imply that one was too weak to complete a task on their own. The boy knew this, he must have, and yet his innocent generosity held no malice._

_She didn't understand it at all. And yet she had to admire him for it; he managed to turn it into a source of strength. He strove to better himself, not for power's own sake, but so that he had more to give to others. _

_Her fingers were numb from trying to dig herself out. It was futile; every bit of snow she tossed away was replaced by the storm, or simply from the outside of the hole. She could not get out alone. By the laws of her people, she deserved the slow, painful death that was coming to her._

_But she didn't feel that way at all. She was strong, wasn't she? A little bit of bad luck, a single mistake, should not have been her downfall. And while she had impressed on the boy over and over again that to care was to challenge, to trust in a person's own talents to save them, she found herself thinking that perhaps, just this once, she might want to try things his way._

_Just to see what happened._

* * *

Karst's eyes shot open as she felt her veins fill with liquid fire.

Not fire, rather; just... hot blood. It felt like a powerful, focused Aura being pushed directly through her arm. Her heart pounded and her lungs heaved and her fingers tingled with the desire to just DO something. She sat bolt-upright.

The woman at her side hopped back about a foot, quickly retracting a syringe from a tube that led into Karst's forearm.

"How are you feeling? Wide awake?" the woman asked. "You have been sedated. Not for long, mind you, but you needed some help getting up in time. It's a good thing we had some epinephrine on hand, don't you think?"

Karst's head pounded as she tried to force the world into focus, to see if she could identify the speaker. Her world was a thunderstorm in a bottle that had been tossed into the sea.

"Still a bit dizzy, I see," the voice continued. "What a shame. We had a gift for you. Several, in fact... consider them an official apology, from the Empyror to you."

That name... Karst latched onto its familiarity. She shooed away the remnants of her dream, and forced herself to contain her excess energy. She closed her eyes and bore down until the world stopped spinning.

When she opened them, she saw an unfamiliar face standing at her side. Karst herself was on a table in a bright room full of mysterious instruments that she failed to identify. There was a tube connecting her arm and a small, transparent bag; in that tube was a small additional valve, which must have been where the syringe had gone in.

Karst yanked the tube out, not really caring what its purpose was.

"Empyror..." she muttered. That meant the other woman was aligned with the hated Tuaparang; the uniform seemed to confirm it. "Tuaparang warrior, do you have a death wish? You awaken me after years of imprisonment and simply offer 'gifts' as compensation. You are suicidal, stupid, arrogant, naive, or some combination thereof. I could burn you alive with a thought. Give me a reason why I shouldn't."

The woman smirked – arrogant certainly seemed to define her, though it might not necessarily have driven her decision – and bowed slightly.

"While I am truly in awe of your talents, O Karst of Prox," she said, her voice dripping with sarcasm, " I highly doubt that you could harm me. You may try, for your own piece of mind."

Without hesitation, Karst snapped her fingers, calling all of her considerable power to bear upon this lone, unfortunate woman.

The woman's choker flashed bright purple for an instant, emitting a low hum. Her eyes widened in amusement as one hand shot up to touch it. "Dear me! I _felt_ that. I really did."

Karst hissed. "Those devices... Felix and I faced them before. I found a workaround. They stopper out psynergy, but not the heat it generates. Your trinket still won't save you."

The woman grinned, however, and raised a finger in objection. "Ah, but if you do that, you might damage your gift. Remember?"

She stepped aside, and spread her arms out wide, in a gesture that Karst assumed was intended to be majestic, but simply looked pretentious. It might have worked if the "gift" looked at all grand. But it simply looked to Karst like an average pair of plate mail leggings.

"Warriors of Prox pride mobility over protection," Karst spat, turning up her nose at the armor. "That hunk of metal will only defend someone who would otherwise lack the skill to avoid an attack. Anyone with skill will only find themselves hindered. Did you really hope to buy my allegiance with these?"

The Tuaparang woman scowled. "I thought you were just proud, not stupid," she said. "Or have you forgotten the reason you came here in the first place? Put on the leggings, you imbecile."

"_Make me._"

There was a flash of steel, and a knife stopped an inch from Karst's throat.

It probably would have been closer if Karst hadn't caught the arm holding it mid-swing.

"I am no mere soldier of the Tuaparang!" the woman cried, obviously very aggravated by this point. "I am Caudgel, one of the Empyror's own generals, and the only survivor of the original four who did not turn traitor or gain the position through nepotism! The only reason you yet live is because His Highness feels the two of you have a common goal. Though I will not question his intentions, I perhaps question his choice of pawns if you refuse to wear the very device Felix requisitioned for you! You are unarmed, immobile, and you cannot kill me with your witchcraft. I have a knife, and yet against my better judgment, _I am offering you a chance to walk again!_"

There was a long, tense silence.

Karst turned the words over in her head. Of course; she had seen examples of Tuaparang technology before. Could it be that this worthless set of leggings was just a shell for a genuinely valuable piece of machinery?

"What common goal?" Karst whispered.

Caudgel flashed a predatory smile.

"We have heard tell of your, shall we call it, _grudge_ against Isaac and his companions," she purred. "What if I told you that they were here now, in this very city? I am offering you the means to do something you would have attempted anyway. If you succeed, the Empyror is willing to wipe the slate clean between you two. He may even offer the traitor Felix amnesty, if you are efficient enough."

Karst narrowed her eyes. Then, she pushed away the knife.

"Fine. Show me how to use these."

It wasn't a difficult decision.

It did, of course, take some doing to actually put on the armor. Karst essentially had to guide her legs into the device manually, and then she had to sort of balance her upper half in it, hoping it wouldn't fall over. Then, Caudgel ducked around to Karst's side, fiddled with something, and stood back.

Karst felt a sudden, sharp pain in her lower back that nearly caused her to double over.

But when the significance of pain – of ANY feeling – occurred to her, she felt her spirits lift. It hurt, and she still couldn't feel anything below it, but it wasn't the same kind of nothing. It was less of an emptiness, and more of a temporary vacancy; it was the same as if she had simply sat with her legs in an awkward position for an extended period of time. It wasn't perfect, but it was a start.

She lifted her leg to take a step forward.

Her balance failed her utterly and she nearly fell.

"Oh, watch your step!" Caudgel said delightedly, catching her arm. "Silly me, I assumed a mighty Proxian warrior such as yourself would have some sense of balance. Please allow me to walk you to the door, I'd hate for you to trip on something..."

Karst roared and pushed the General away. In doing so, she fell to the ground, hard. She nearly fell a second time as she scrambled back to her feet. It might just have been that she hadn't walked in a very long time, but the leg rig didn't seem to move quite as delicately as she had once been able to. It was like performing brain surgery with a hammer.

Caudgel pulled Karst to her feet, skipping away happily before the fiery warrior could retaliate.

"I will guide you from the hospital. We have another guest to pick up along the way. Oh, and be careful on those stairs! If you need help navigating them..."

Karst tripped again.

Caudgel learned several new expletives.

* * *

_She called and called, but Sveta wouldn't answer. It was as if Sveta couldn't even hear her. _

_Sveta was running through the pristine garden, moving as if she was searching for someone. And Karis knew she could help, too, which is why she was calling out. But Sveta just kept running, and Karis couldn't catch up. Her legs were made of lead, and no matter how hard she tried, Sveta just stayed out of reach._

_Occasionally, Sveta would meet up with another of their friends – Matthew, or Tyrell, or somebody – and the other person would wave to both of them. But then Sveta would start talking, and by the time Karis arrived, neither of the other two would pay attention to her. She tried grabbing and shaking them. But it was as if they had forgotten she was there._

_Then Sveta would leave and find someone else. And little by little, Karis felt her friends being stripped away._

_Eventually, no one remembered her. Eoleo, Amiti, Isaac... even her own father failed to recognize her once Sveta arrived. The beast queen wasn't doing it out of malice. She didn't realize it was happening. Karis didn't harbor any ill will about it. But the intent didn't matter. Karis was now all alone._

_She tried to make amends, to beg people to talk to her again. But they didn't even notice her. So she decided to try to communicate through the world around them. If they couldn't see her, surely they could see the effect she was having on everything else, right?_

_So she worked on the garden. She planted new flowers, grew new trees, pulled out all the weeds. And little by little, her friends and family began to notice how the garden was changing. They loved it. She was so happy to see the smiles on their faces._

_But happy as they were, they still couldn't see her. They just watched in awe as the garden grew, apparently of its own volition._

_She kept trying, knowing it would all be in vain._

* * *

"Wakey-wakey," a soft voice called out. "Karis, honey? How are you feeling?"

Karis opened her eyes slowly, squinting against a bright light. She squirmed a little. Her arms and legs felt very, very stiff.

"Mmph... five more minutes..."

"Ah, you're talking again. That's good. Yes, go ahead and go back to sleep if you like. The fact that you can speak at all means that that knife wound wasn't nearly as bad as I thought it might have been..."

Knife wound?

Karis sat up sharply, gasping as memories rushed back to her. She had gone out to find Mia, and something happened... she was taken in by some kind of trick, and then everything had gone dark.

She felt something tear, and pain exploded outward again. Karis cried out in agony, arching her back as she fell back down on the table she had woken up on.

She saw a blur of ice-blue on black against the matte white of the walls. "Hey, hey, whoa! Careful! I just fixed that. Could you please wait maybe _five minutes_ before nearly bleeding out again? I'd appreciate it!"

Something about the sarcastic, rather high-pitched tone resonated within Karis. "...Rief?" she called.

There was a short pause as Karis felt her back go numb. There was some wetness around the area, but at least the pain was gone.

"Not Rief," the voice corrected. "You're about thirty years off. I realize you're still a little woozy, but you'd think you could tell a mother from her son, of all people..."

Karis nodded weakly. "...Mia..." she said. Right. The fact that she was still alive meant that Mia had done something to save her. Which meant Mia wasn't really that far gone... probably.

"Bingo. Now hold still a moment, I'm just going to roll you over to get a better look at the wound... oh, geez, that's bleeding a lot. How the heck did you manage to tear it open like that? No, no, don't answer. It doesn't matter. Just have to re-stitch a little. I could just fix it with psynergy, but it'll work much better in the long run if the body heals normally..."

Karis was only half paying attention. Her head was still swimming a little from the pain, and she was still very, very tired.

"'Kay, now, don't sit up, or jerk around or anything, but... you're on Tuaparang. That crazy woman stabbed you, and I healed you before telling her off. We brought you back here for proper medical treatment. That girl Rief was hanging around with came along, too. Seemed to know Lady McCoy, I guess... or, Caudgel, or whatever her name is. Doesn't matter.

"The point is, you're here now, and you're safe. And... if you don't mind, I think it'd be good for you to meet The Empyror, just to see for yourself what kind of person he is before you judge him. It's only fair, don't you think? I know I changed my mind when I met him..."

Karis wasn't thinking straight, but Mia seemed trustworthy. "Yeah, sure... I guess..."

"Great! He isn't here yet, but I'm sure you'll love him. And then we can convince Ivan to do it, and Rief and Nowell, and everyone else too!" Karis felt the cold chill begin to subside, and a soft hand caressed her upper back, gently rubbing her shoulders and neck. "It's terrible when friends go to war. I just want everyone to be friends. His Highness wants that too, don't you see? One big, happy family..."

But something didn't fit. "...Why'd you hurt Sveta, then? She's our friend, too..."

"Well, because... because I wasn't hurting her, alright?" Mia stammered. "She needed help, so I helped her. It's like your back, here. I wish I didn't have to poke a needle and thread through it, but it has to be done to help you heal. Sveta was going to die. Now she isn't."

"Could've been more gentle, or safer..." Karis replied. "...Had to be a way to save her without hurting her... just, should've thought... for another minute..." _I should've thought for another minute,_ Karis thought. _Then maybe Sveta would listen to me again, and I could stop running through this stupid garden..._The world started to fade again, and Karis found herself focusing less and less on what was real and what she was imagining.

Mia's voice came back hurried and uncertain. "B-but... safer? Beastmen are the enemy! Don't you remember? The Empyror hates them, so they should be destroyed or hurt whenever possible-"

"...Friends, not enemies..." Karis mumbled. "One big... happy family..."

"Don't you dare throw my words back at me, young lady!" Mia cried. "And I... but... yes, Rief and Matthew are friends with her, and... but... but she..."

There was a sort of strangled shout, and then footsteps.

"It's right to heal, but... it's right to hurt sometimes, and... and it's... sh-shut up!" Mia shouted. "Stop trying to confuse me! You're just like them, like Jenna and Isaac! And Jenna took Isaac away from me, after he was rightfully mine, mine before he was hers, and then had the gall to blame me for all their problems, and THEN tried to criticize me for my healing methods, and... and Sveta is... good, but... but...!"

Karis slipped into darkness.

* * *

Meanwhile, Mia's mind was tearing itself apart. She knew that she was contradicting herself, but she couldn't understand _why_. Sharp spears of uncertainty were jabbing at her brain and she couldn't push them away. She gritted her teeth, and gripped the countertop of the operating room tighter and tighter until it cracked under her fingers.

She had done the right thing with Sveta, right? She was healed, which was good because death was the world's greatest tragedy, but she had been hurt, which was also good because beastmen were a plague to be wiped clean from Weyard. But she hadn't hurt Sveta enough, which was bad... and she hadn't healed Sveta carefully, which was also bad...

And unbidden, Mia's other insecurities began to bubble to the surface. Isaac had been her best friend, and then he had also been more than that, and then he wasn't... and Jenna was mad at her, which was justified, only it wasn't... and all of her friends were against her, because she had joined the people who were doing all of the killing, which made sense, but it didn't, because why wouldn't you join the Tuaparang?

She needed to ask His Highness. Yes, that made sense. If she was ever confused, talking to him would be the best idea. Much easier than hurting her head thinking about things like free will, right? His will was the only will that mattered.

It was only natural that she'd become his concubine when he returned, but maybe if she asked politely, he'd let her keep Isaac, too. Certainly, her relationship with him had never been fulfilling in any way but the physical, but The Empyror could take care of everything else, and it would be nice to have someone she could trust implicitly. Not like that husband of hers, away on "fishing trips" as often as he was home, coming back guarded and guilty and calling her the wrong name in the middle of the night...

There was no one to talk to, no one to confide in. She couldn't talk to that murderer, The Empyror, that wonderful, fantastic man she would die for and who she feared because he was almost certainly going to kill her... and, but... who...

...Her friends hated her, and...

Mia sniffled. She squeezed her eyes closed and covered her ears, shutting out the world to the best of her ability.

She stayed that way for quite some time.

* * *

A crash of metal, followed by a stream of unfamiliar curses, snapped Mia out of her reverie. She wiped her face one last time, checked her reflection in the nearest mirror, and glanced out the door.

There was a redheaded draconic warrior, armored from the waist down, sprawled out on the floor at the bottom of the staircase just out in the hallway. Caudgel was gracefully gliding down after her, passing by the grumbling form to come to a stop a few feet away from Mia.

"I told her about stairs," Caudgel said. "I TOLD her, Mia."

The General then calmly called out over her shoulder. "Karst? Don't kill this one, either. She's on our side now, and the Empyror will be very upset if you're too indiscriminate about your targets."

Mia hurried over to Karst. She knelt down, and paused for a second, indecisive – she was hurt, she needed healing, but she had caused so much pain, so she was a problem, and problems were to be solved with violence, but hurting your allies is wrong – then Mia shook the confusion away, and laid her hands upon the Proxian. Lots of cuts and bruises, significant internal bleeding. Several minor fractures. A mild concussion, and a chipped tooth...

"...This is just from falling down stairs?" Mia asked.

Caudgel shrugged and grinned. "We were on a rather high level when we started. There were a lot of flights of stairs to cover, and she wouldn't let me help her down. It kept happening."

"Isn't she paralyzed?"

"That armor on her legs lets her walk. Luckily for everyone, it's very sturdy. Falling down all those stairs won't have done much more than dent it."

Mia reached out, and sure enough, she could feel some sort of connection with the legs despite the break in the spinal cord. She had to give the Tuaparang credit; even the greatest healers found spinal repair to be next to impossible. Spines were really, really complicated, and making any mistake at all could have profound consequences. It was the same reason Mercury Adepts wouldn't go near a lost or damaged eye, or a serious brain injury. Sometimes it was better to leave it broken than to make a mistake fixing it.

Karst's hand swatted Mia away. "Get out, I can do this myself," she growled. Mia obligingly kept her distance while the Proxian struggled to get her legs beneath her.

"So have you saved Ivan's girl?" Caudgel asked. "I'm not terribly concerned, but-"

"Yes, Karis is fine. She's asleep again," Mia said. "You really did a number on her, and I think I'd feel safer knowing that you're going to keep your distance from now on. I presume something's going on if you decided to wake up Karst?"

Caudgel nodded. "Your former friends are on their way to the city, if they haven't arrived already. His Highness wants to meet with us at the Archives. How long will the girl be asleep?"

"Until morning, probably, unless someone wakes her up. She's no threat to anyone as she is."

"No time to put her in stasis, either, I guess. That takes some preparation," Caudgel commented. "Oh well, I see no problem with leaving her here. If they find her, she'll slow them down without really helping out. If they don't find her, she'll be too busy sleeping to cause problems for us anyway."

There was another loud clank, and a curse, as Karst overshot and fell back on the floor.

Mia nodded in approval. "Finicky and fussy as that machine seems to be, it really is impressive. Tuaparang technology is amazing. Giving someone the ability to walk again after 30 years? It's nothing short of miraculous."

Caudgel just laughed. When Mia gave her a confused glance, Caudgel leaned in and whispered in her ear.

"Honestly, we could probably do better if we tried again with current tech. That rig's been collecting dust in storage since I was a teenager. But don't tell Karst, alright? I'm afraid she'd kill us both out of blind, stupid anger."

And the woman pulled away, spun on her heel, and began marching toward the exit. She beckoned to both Mia and Karst.

"Come along now! We have little time to spare, and crawling around on the floor like an infant is a rather inefficient way to travel."

Mia hurried over to Karst, picked her up, and placed her standing on her feet.

The Mercury Adept paid no heed to Karst's curses and threats. There was a lot on her mind already.

* * *

_They had been flying for hours already, and had left the mainland behind quite some time ago. All he could see was clouds, clouds everywhere. Through the fog in his mind, he hoped desperately that he had been heading in the right direction._

_Sveta had mercifully passed out from sheer terror early on in the trip. It made it a little more difficult to hold onto her, but he had managed... so far, at least. The trip was beginning to take its toll on him._

_His arms felt like lead. Keeping his eyes open was a herculean task. Yet he still scanned the skies, begging to whomever might be listening for some sign, or a signal, or a hint._

_And then he noticed a growing black dot in the distance, around the 10 o'clock region. He squinted, and could barely make out an oddly regular shape._

_It was his best hope, so he gunned it in that direction. Sure enough, as he approached, he was shocked and relieved to see a huge, black, floating city sweep into view. There as a massive tower at one corner of it, high above everything else, and so that was where Ivan decided to land._

_As he finally saw the city move beneath him, he let himself relax. The trip was almost over. He was completely exhausted, both mentally and physically, but he had made it. He saw a low balcony, just above the city rooftops, jutting out of the tower; a perfect landing site._

_He dove toward it. When he realized how fast he was going, he pushed back as hard as he could, trying to slow himself down._

_Sveta fell from his grasp. And then he overshot the balcony._

_The last thing he saw before everything went black was Sveta landing safely, not a care in the world as he zipped down toward the streets below-_

* * *

There was a light shuffling, and some muttered voices.

That light was _very_ bright.

"Mmph..." Ivan muttered. "Five more minutes..." Something tasted coppery, but he didn't really care. He just wanted this goon to get that light out of his face.

The world began to swim into focus, though. Ivan picked himself up off the ground carefully, wondering what the heck had inspired that dream of his. Normally his dreams were much more metaphorical, full of foreshadowing and mystery.

A heavy boot pressed down on his back, pushing him to the ground.

"Don't move!" a rough voice cried out. "Hands on your head!"

_Oh, right,_ Ivan thought as he began to focus what little psynergy he had recharged.

It hadn't been a dream, had it?

The Tuaparang warriors collapsed as one, their minds suddenly overcome by an urgent need to sleep.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_It was fun to have Caudgel and Karst try to out-bitch each other. I imagine it'd get boring really fast if I kept it up, but I think I can swing it for a little while longer._

_And I saw Mia's section as a good opportunity to explain what's up with her. People have been wondering in reviews, and some people have said that her characterization is confusing. Hopefully this clears it up a little; she's as confused as you are._


	62. Don't Split The Party

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"What the bloody hell happened here?"

The docks hadn't been in particularly good condition when the Empyror had left – Felix and Karst hadn't planned on preserving the terrain – but at least they had been workable. Upon returning, despite Chalis' strenuous efforts at finding a place to land safely, the last remaining airship's landing gear had slipped, giving the passengers within enough of a thump to wake the Empyror from his deep sleep.

The few soldiers that remained in the area were doing their best to scavenge resources from their fallen comrades and damaged equipment, which seemed to make even more of a mess. The docks now looked like a tornado had torn through it. Several, in fact. At which point they had begun an intense game of The Ground Is Lava.

The Empyror idly rubbed some sleep from his eye as Chalis followed him through ground zero. At the sound of his approach, several warriors turned, snapping to attention once they realized whom they were seeing. A sort of domino effect occurred as the crisp salutes drew the attention of the warriors who had not caught the initial action, but who swiftly followed suit once they saw what was going on. Within several breaths, every Tuaparang soldier in the room – as few as there were – was standing at attention and waiting for orders from their beloved leader.

"Status report!" Chalis snapped as her brother yawned widely. She scanned the soldiers' rank insignias after several seconds of confused staring, and, spotting the highest-ranking officer in the area, snapped her fingers in his direction. "You! What happened here?"

The man quickly glanced behind himself and, once he was satisfied that Chalis was, in fact, talking to him, took a step forward.

"Intel suggests that the Warriors of Vale have arrived, ma'am!" he blurted. "There were no survivors on our side of their initial landing. We arrived just a few minutes after the shooting stopped. But we're hearing scattered reports of combat from a handful of entrenched positions in the city. The invaders are using psynergy, ma'am – too much for our defenders to handle alone. It's only a matter of time before-"

"Tell the men to hold on as long as they can," The Empyror interrupted. "Use whatever delaying tactics they can think of. Barricade walkways, blow up entry points, whatever. I have a plan, but it'll take time to put in motion."

"Sir! Yessir!" the trooper responded. He hurried over to his squad's radio and relayed the orders. There was a rush of static and a scattering of voices as he mentioned the source of the orders, but there were no objections to the word of the Empyror.

The royal pair continued to march through heedlessly, but just before they reached the exit, another hurried communique came through the radio, and the senior officer ran to deliver the message before the Empyror could leave.

"Just received word from the higher-ups, sir!" he shouted, saluting once more. "General Caudgel is in the city, sir, and she arrived with several wounded prisoners! She wishes to meet with you at the Archives at your earliest convenience!"

Chalis folded her arms fiercely. "What's she doing here?" she asked.

The Empyror shrugged. "No idea, but I'm not complaining. The more, the merrier. If you can get word out, tell her I'm on my way. You guys, uh... keep doing what you were doing, I guess."

The soldier bowed deeply and ran back to the radio as Chalis and the Empyror continued onward through the ruined doors.

"Brother, am I correct in assuming you plan to travel via your hidden passages?" Chalis asked. "If you plan to go through the Warriors to the Archives, then I'll follow you, but if your plan is to go around them until we can regroup..."

The Empyror nodded. "What do you have in mind, sister?"

"The Hospital," she said. "If Caudgel arrived with wounded prisoners, that's where they'll be, and for all we know that's the reason the Warriors are here in the first place."

A pause. "I don't know how comfortable I feel with you sitting around at our enemy's main target, Chalis," the Empyror said. "Just come with me. It'd be better to plan strategy when all our generals are in the same place."

"But this is a chance we won't have again!" Chalis protested. "If the prisoners aren't the Warriors' target, then I'll be safe. I can determine that when I arrive. But if that's where they're bound, then I can lay a trap for them. I can catch them all at once, using the prisoners as bait."

"No. Too risky."

"Brother, keep in mind who these prisoners might be," she continued. "Most of the Warriors have children. Those children killed Blados, and nearly killed me. They ruined our plans. Any one of them will be a significant asset to the Warriors in their assault. If you let me go, I can stop that from happening. In the worst case scenario, I'll have to fight them in terrain I know using traps I've set, with a huge number of Djinn on my side and an escape route via the hidden tunnels within easy reach."

The Empyror pondered for several seconds, trying to find a reason to deny her, but he could find none. Her reasoning made sense; he wished he could go with her, but if Caudgel was in the city, it was for a good reason. He had to find out what.

With a sigh and a shrug, he said, "Go with my blessing. But promise me you'll only engage if you know you can win. Retreat at the first sign of trouble. Head to the Palace when you're done, whether you succeed or not. I'll meet you there when I'm finished at the Archives."

Chalis let out an arrogant giggle. "Brother, of course I wouldn't try to face them all on my own. I'm a lover, not a fighter. But if there are any left once the trap has been set off, it should be easy pickings. I'll see you when I'm done."

The Empyror met her eyes, sighed, and dismissed his feelings of doubt. She was overconfident, yet cautious. He knew she had far too much faith in her own abilities, but she had seen enough conflict to know when things had gone pear-shaped, he knew well enough that she wasn't eager to face a repeat of what happened at Apollo Sanctum.

He searched the wall for a nearly-unnoticeable marking, a slight discoloration in the otherwise nondescript hallway. He let it guide him toward a smooth panel, identical to the surface around it, and pressed it lightly with two fingers only.

A section of the wall shifted, revealing a stairway leading to a set of maintenance passages that spanned the entire city. No one remained alive who knew of them but the Empyror and Chalis; he had made sure of that. They were an easy way around an endless crowd of adoring fans when he needed to move unmolested.

"Off you go, then," he said, directing her down the tunnel. "Ladies first."

He followed her swiftly down the staircase, closing the door behind him, and at the first tunnel junction, they went their separate ways.

* * *

Strange as it was, Matthew felt quite satisfied. Given the choice, he probably would have picked something like a picnic, or fishing, or something equally mundane for his restored family's first outing. But all things considered, joining them in urban warfare did seem rather fitting.

He and his father would rush the enemy defenses while his mother struck down any major long-range threats, providing whatever support she could. Searing Beams were her weapon of choice, but Aura and Debilitate saw plenty of use too.

Matthew found the Sol Blade to be good enough for him, of course, and Isaac's Huge Sword was in a class of its own. It was all too easy.

Which meant, of course, that after several such encounters, they began to let their guard down.

It should have been obvious from the attitude of the soldiers they were facing. The first handful were panicked and desperate. But this latest group moved calmly and professionally, as if they had something to prove or someone to impress. They ignored their own casualties and neglected any instinct of self-preservation.

Only one soldier ran, and his gait didn't speak of retreat.

Isaac was occupied with mopping up stragglers. Jenna's attention was similarly elsewhere. So Matthew barrelled ahead after the man.

The soldier turned slowly.

He held up a small box with a big, red button on top.

He pressed the button just as Matthew came upon him.

The soldier was felled, of course. But a sudden shockwave knocked Matthew head over heels.

When he came to his senses, he realized that his exit had been cut off. The sidestreet he had obliviously wandered down was now completely blocked by wreckage, the building next to it having apparently been blown in half by explosives. It was a miracle that Matthew himself hadn't been caught in the blast.

He heard anguished, worried voices through the rubble, and pressed himself up as close as he could to hear.

"Matthew!" he heard his mother cry. "Oh, gods! MATTHEW! Please, please tell me you're alright..."

"It's alright, I can still feel him," Isaac assured his wife. "He's perfectly fine. Matthew? Can you hear me?"

Matthew took a deep breath and called out to them. "Yeah, I'm right here! I'm fine, but I don't think I can find a way through. How does it look on your end?"

"Likewise," came the echo of his father's voice. "Listen; it's too dangerous for your mother to blast a way through. We don't know how deep the rubble is, and we don't want to hit you by accident. It could even risk collapsing the building further, and that wouldn't be good for anyone. Are you in any danger?"

Matthew looked around. Other than the settling dust and the body of the warrior who had led him down this path, he was alone. He could see a massive, ornate building towering over the skyline in front of him, however – from Felix's description, it could only have been the Palace.

"I'm fine, Dad," he called again. "Listen, I don't know if I'll be able to find a way around to you guys, but I can see the Palace from here. You two head on to do your thing, and I'll just meet up with Tyrell and Garet."

It took some convincing. Jenna, in spite of everything, was unwilling to let Matthew go alone, citing the risks and the danger of enemy territory. But Isaac argued for Matthew.

"He saved the world once already," he said. "Matthew knows what he's doing. He's proven himself to be resourceful and capable. And why wouldn't he be? He's our son. It's in his genes."

In the end, Jenna had to agree. After all, there was no clear way for them to meet up again. Matthew might have gotten lost, or attacked, or something equally tragic; at least this way, he might be able to find Tyrell and Garet's trail of wreckage and follow that to safety.

"I'll meet you when this is all over," Matthew called as they parted ways. "Have fun, you two!"

With that, he started making his way down the twisted streets of Tuaparang.

...It was much more lonely than it had been before.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Days left until deadline: 2_

_Chapters left: A whole bunch _

_Welllll... there goes my goal. In my defense, last week was chock-full of midterms, and I have a lot going on in my life outside of school too at this point. I'll keep updating as often as I can, but I no longer have a specific end date in my mind. _

_I do plan to mark the date, however, by posting the first chapters of Means to an End and Chronicles of the Wardens, exactly as if I had actually met my deadline. If you aren't terribly concerned about spoilers, then by all means, go ahead and read them! I'm just sick of having them sit in my hard drive like ground beef in a vegetarian's freezer. (MtE won't have serious spoilers for Drops of Jupiter in the first chapter, but CotW will.)_

_Once those are posted I'll leave them untouched again for a while, but once DoJ is done they'll both receive regular updates with no particular pattern._


	63. Reverie

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

The world was an even split of glossy black and dull white. It was cold and quiet and very still. There was a sense of chaos recently departed, and the tension yet remained; it was calm and eerie as the eye of a hurricane.

As her mind slowly began to put itself back together, this stillness drew Sveta's attention more than anything else. Something was wrong, and she couldn't quite tell what. There was no pain from her extremities, but there was still feeling. She was unharmed – a little sore, but nothing serious.

She blinked and, slowly and carefully, sat up to examine her surroundings. She was on a small platform attached to the side of a tall building; the platform was not very large, and it was ringed with a barred railing. The building side of the platform had a large set of double doors, and inside, Sveta could see a scattering of tables and chairs.

That would be some sort of gathering area, she realized. Everything was rather darkly coloured; the glossy black she had seen when she first awoke was the building itself. The dull white was the cloudy sky. And as she looked around, Sveta noticed that the clouds filled the horizon in every direction; either she was very high up, or...

Her heart raced as everything came back to her at once. The flight, her purpose for being here... Tuaparang. Karis. Matthew.

"...Ivan?" Sveta called.

* * *

Staring into those piercing eyes of amethyst, framed by loose blonde hair, the Tuaparang warrior almost wet himself. He was pinned to the wall and paralyzed with fear.

"You have an injured prisoner," the eyes said. "Where would she be kept?"

For a moment, the soldier wanted to answer. The hand that pinned him held supernatural strength. It exerted far more force than any human hand should have, and he could have sworn that he heard his armor starting to creak beneath it.

But then the voice of the Empyror flooded back. The very thought of aiding the enemy horrified the soldier! It made him want to throw up. Even though he knew that there had been a green-haired girl brought to the hospital by the General and the defected Warrior, he would never tell this man. It was a secret he would take to the grave, if need be. It would be an honor to die for the Empyror!

The soldier made up his mind to spit.

The blonde-haired man moved his head to the side before the spit even came, shielding his face from any sort of splash with his free hand.

"So then, where would the hospital be?" the man asked. "You'd better not give me specific directions. You know how much it would upset your Empyror."

The soldier gasped. Specific directions? Blasphemy! Even though there were several perfectly safe ways that avoided all major troop concentrations, and had clear landmarks, and you could walk here, and take a left there, and there was a nice cafe on the corner of that street there... Utter nonsense. The soldier knew very clearly what directions he was not going to give to the blonde-haired man.

A pair of purple irises rolled derisively.

"You're working too hard," they seemed to say.

And the Tuaparang soldier felt himself drift into darkness. The hand that had held him slipped away to let sleep take hold, brought on by some mysterious force that the soldier had no way of detecting.

* * *

Sveta realized with some surprise that she was feeling pulses of psynergy from all over the landscape before her. Her ears perked in surprise, and she found that if she strained to listen, she could hear echoes of combat from several places at once.

Scanning the skyline, she spotted a window not too far away – several hundred metres, at most - that had been shattered. Hanging broken from the windowsill was a large, turquoise object that looked very familiar.

_...One of the wings of Karis's flying machine,_ Sveta realized. That explained where Ivan had gone to. Sveta let out a sigh of relief that he had at least landed somewhere; she was still confused as to how she had ended up on this balcony in the middle of nowhere, but even if he was out of reach, he was still nearby. Hopefully still alive, too.

A sudden gust of wind across the balcony sent Sveta's heart racing and before she realized what she was doing, she had opened the door and was inside the building, panting wildly. When her rational mind took over again, she felt guilt and frustration wash over her, an odd mix of insecure anger at an utter helplessness that she hoped was temporary. She would have to stay indoors whenever possible, at least until this traumatic fear had worn off.

She examined her surroundings and immediately understood where she was. Banners hung from the walls, and the tables and chairs were of the highest quality, ornate nearly to a fault. They were built more to be looked at than to be sat in and used. This was a room built to show off wealth, in a building taller than any other in the city.

Sveta was in the Empyror's own palace.

If the others were in the city, this would be their ultimate goal. She could wait here and meet them in due time. But alone, and weakened as she was, Sveta knew that there was no place more dangerous to her in the entire world.

Luckily for her, she had plenty of experience sneaking out of palaces.

The heightened senses of the beastmen took hold, and Sveta treaded very lightly.

* * *

Matthew hesitated, stopping before he turned at the corner ahead. The street before him seemed clear, but... strangely barren. The main entryway into the palace was at the end of the road, just around the corner. Shouldn't there have been some kind of blockade, or guard post, or... something? Anything?

At the very least, if Tyrell and Garet had been through here, he would have expected to see a little more collateral damage. But the street was pretty spotless. Not a window was broken, not a floor tile was out of place.

He listened carefully, but the only sound Matthew heard was the sound of battle, some distance away. If there were any soldiers nearby, they had to be hiding, perhaps waiting to ambush any intruders that came near...

But then he listened more closely for the direction of the conflict, and another possibility occurred to him. Most of the chaos seemed to be taking place in the opposite direction of the palace. Matthew had encountered next to no trouble since he changed his route; could it be that he had simply gone around most of the fortifications?

It would make sense, after all, to set up defenses along the main routes from the docks. That was probably what they had done. So when Matthew took the long way around, almost reaching the archives before changing direction, he had moved in a manner that the Tuaparang defenders hadn't anticipated! All of the troops had gone forward to defend the expected chokepoints, where Garet and Tyrell were probably still stuck-in.

There were probably still a handful of defenders at the palace, but they wouldn't be prepared either, would they? Matthew could run in, take them all by surprise, and then wait for Garet and Tyrell to catch up.

_What took you so long?_ Matthew would say when they finally caught up. _I've been waiting here since forever. You guys are so slow._ And of course he'd have found some kind of comfy furniture to sit in, so he could look as bored as possible. Tyrell would be so mad! It would be hilarious.

Matthew took one last look down the street, paying extra attention to the windows on the off chance there was actually someone waiting in ambush. But the coast looked clear.

He turned the corner and drew his sword. Still no movement. He had to admit, it seemed a little too easy.

Walking down the street, sword held outward, Matthew kept his guard up. Silence.

He reached the palace door, stopped, and rested his back against it.

He took a breath and retightened his grip on the handle of his sword. He planned out a few possible openings to capitalize on the element of surprise.

Then he kicked the door open and sprinted down the hallway.

He made it about 10 feet before he noticed the oddly familiar crisscross pattern on the ceiling, and then came the ominous purple glow-

* * *

Pad. Pad. Pad.

_Clank, clank, clank_

_Pause._

Pad.

Pad.

padpadpadpadpadpadSPEEDPUNCH. Psynergy Slam. Speed Punch, Savage Raptor._ Muffled cry._

Quiet panting, _muffled clanking_ as two bodies were dragged somewhere they wouldn't be noticed.

The palace really was poorly defended, Sveta reflected. Certainly, there were guards around, but... well, perhaps they never expected someone to come in from the sky. Half-hearted patrol routes were run by guards who didn't quite understand why they weren't at the frontlines. It was child's play.

At the very least, it gave Sveta some time to plan. Without knowing her friends' exact strategy, she could still make a few educated guesses. Ivan would obviously be looking for Karis, who was likely in either some kind of prison or some kind of triage center. Isaac and Jenna would be looking for information, which would be in... a library? Or what?

Sveta frowned. She realized that she had no idea how the city was laid out, nor did she know how well-informed the others were. If they were running blind like she was, then it would be like searching for a needle in a haystack... except that the needle kept moving, and the hay was heavily armed and hostile-

In the midst of her ruminations, Sveta froze on instinct. Her ears perked of their own volition, and it only took her a second to realize why.

She had heard an echo.

The remnant of a distant cry.

Something about it filled her heart with dread and, throwing caution to the wind, she raced toward the source.

As she approached, hurrying through hallways and leaping down entire stairwells, a faint _hum_ filled her ears. The sound made her skin crawl. It made her head pound, too, pulsing with the barely-restrained pain of a repressed memory.

She reached the bottom of one final staircase, and gazed down the long, desolate hallway that served as the palace's entry corridor. The sight that greeted her stole her breath and her hope, it turned her legs to jelly, it brought tears of pain and panic to her eyes. She fell to her knees.

At the end of the hallway, just before the doors that would lead her to freedom, there was the deathly, off-purple glow of a triggered psynergy trap, the crisscrossing veins along the ceiling serving as almost a warning.

She could feel her skin itch from where she knelt. She knew that if she approached, the itch would become a searing pain, one that would literally begin to tear her apart bit by bit. Her pulse raced to dangerous speeds, her breathing became very shallow, and darkness crept into the edges of her vision as the fear began to overtake her, unconsciousness her only refuge.

But the familiar form lying in the middle of the trap drew her focus. The unruly blonde hair matted with sweat. The tattered scarf lying limp on the floor.

"No," she whispered. "No, nononononono..."

Tears flowed forth as her own helplessness began to sink in. Matthew was there. He was hurt. Sveta was only a short sprint away, and yet going to his aid would only make matters worse. He was going to die, and it was all because she was so... so...

Down the hallway, right in the middle of the trap, a concealed door opened in the wall. Sveta willed herself to move, to hide around a corner, and she only just managed to do so before a pair of figures emerged. Sveta covered her own nose and mouth with one hand, wiping away tears with her other, and forced herself to remain silent.

"Guess no more of 'em are coming," one of the figures said. "Pity. Aren't they supposed to travel in groups?"

"Was kinda hoping this one would work as bait, at least," the other man agreed. "With the traps knocking 'em out, they're easy pickings. Brilliant idea sticking one right in the entryway."

"The Empyror is wise in all things!" the first man professed.

Both of them laughed, but it was more... thankful, perhaps, than mocking. Sveta heard a loud _thud_, and then a short silence.

"Well, it's all well and good to kick 'em while they're down, but shouldn't we make this a little more permanent?"

Sveta whimpered, and couldn't help but peek out around the corner. Sure enough, one of the soldiers had drawn his weapon, and was in the process of aiming it down at the helpless Matthew.

There were perhaps five seconds before the trigger would be pulled.

The guards were inside of a field that would turn Sveta's bones into dust after only a few minutes of exposure. Matthew wasn't affected in the same way, but he was unconscious, and wouldn't wake up until he was free of the field for a significant amount of time.

The autocrossbow was levelled at Matthew's torso. Three or four seconds until it would be fired.

Could Sveta get their attention? Perhaps. Calling out to them, making them chase her, would buy Matthew precious time, but what if they simply shot him before pursuing her? It would be the smart thing to do, in their position. No, she needed to prevent them from firing. But she had nothing to throw. Psynergy was obviously out of the question.

The only option was to attack. And... Sveta would not survive the encounter. But if she worked quickly, she could incapacitate or kill the men before they could react. With luck, one of the others would find Matthew's body before a guard did... and with further luck, Sveta's remains would be unrecognizable, sparing Matthew that trauma as well.

_Click._ The crossbow was cocked, the safety removed. Two seconds.

Sveta released the beast within her, kicking all of her djinn into action simultaneously and changing her form into that of a mighty wolf-creature. At the very least, the added endurance might grant her more time, and the added strength would grant her efficiency. She did her best to block out all feeling, ignoring the pain that was to come.

She howled.

The soldiers looked at her. The crossbow moved away from Matthew. Sveta bounded forward.

Time slowed to a crawl.

The soldier with the crossbow fired at Sveta. The bolt raced toward her, striking her in the shoulder. She barely felt it. In retaliation, she summoned psynergy to launch herself at him, riding a burst of expanding air to deliver a Speed Punch.

She felt the air crackle as she entered the drainage field. The purple glow intensified to almost a blinding severity.

She felt... fuzzy.

But it didn't hurt. And the lack of pain, more than anything else, threw her off.

The focused punch that would have ended the soldier's life turned into a haphazard body slam, knocking the man down and sending his weapon skittering away down the hall. Sveta picked herself up and turned on the man still standing, who had drawn a weapon of his own by this point.

Another crossbow bolt thudded into Sveta's shoulder. She definitely felt this one, which made the absence of pain from the psynergy field even more prominent.

She struck the weapon out of the man's hand, and then struck the man himself to the ground with a single swipe of her mighty paw. She dispatched him where he lay, ran down the other soldier, and then scooped Matthew up into her arms and hurried through the concealed door, throwing it shut as she passed through.

And not a moment too soon. Just as the door blocked out the deadly glow of the field, Sveta felt her form shift back to normal against her will. She felt weak; a quick check confirmed that yes, her djinn were tapped out, having used all of their energy to maintain her beastform. But with all 9 Jupiter Djinn at her disposal, Sveta could usually stay in beastform for a much longer period – several minutes, at least. Here, she had only lasted a few seconds. Why?

She placed Matthew on a sofa in the room – an observation area, from the look of it, with a window tinted to look like part of the wall from the outside – and, ignoring the sharp twinges of pain in her shoulder from the two crossbow bolts, made her way to the nearby control panel and pulled a bright red switch.

The glow of the psynergy trap dissipated.

Sveta let out a sigh of relief. Then she tiptoed over to Matthew, brushed the hair out of his face, and kissed his unconscious lips.

It was a fair enough reward.

* * *

Matthew awoke with a severe migrane headache, and a stiffness in his muscles the likes of which he couldn't quite remember experiencing. He opened his eyes, and the lights in the room were so incredibly bright... but he was aware enough to realize that his head was in someone's lap. The clothes were familiar, but the figure behind them... the shape was somewhat different. More fit. Muscular, perhaps. More his type.

"...Karis?" he muttered. "When'd you turn hot?"

"Matthew? I am sorry, I did not realize you were awake! What did you say?"

Very much not Karis.

Matthew sat bolt-upright... and then regretted it immediately as the world spun around him, his headache intensifying and bringing him back to a horizontal position.

A lightly furred hand brushed against his clammy, sweaty forehead. "Hush," Sveta said. "Be still. Your psynergy was drained, and I have no idea how long you were in the field's effects for. Just catch your breath, there is no need to rush. I believe we are safe here."

With a slow nod, Matthew let himself sink into his position a little further. He allowed himself to ignore the impossibility of the situation, and just enjoy the comforts that came with it.

"To answer the questions you will inevitably be asking," Sveta said, "yes, I am wearing one of Karis's outfits. It was better than a torn, bloody dress. And yes, I did come to Tuaparang. I convinced Ivan to use Karis's flying machine and bring me along once it came to light that she had been kidnapped."

"Huh," Matthew groaned. "Karis got kidnapped?" The meaning of the words washed over him, barely affecting him, but he got the gist of it. Gods above, this was like the worst hangover ever.

"I think Ivan is looking for her now, yes," Sveta confirmed. "I know little about what else is going on in the city. Most of my time here was spent either looking for a way out of the palace, or here looking after you..."

Matthew nodded again, and adjusted his position to make himself more comfortable. In doing so, however, he lightly nudged Sveta's other arm. She flinched and whimpered quietly.

That got his attention. Matthew opened his eyes again, ignoring the harsh light, and sat up more slowly. For the first time, the two crossbow bolts caught his eye, as did the small circle of blood surrounding each of them.

"Sveta, you're hurt!" he cried, leaping to his feet and hunching over her to check the damage. "How'd this happen? Why are you... how...?"

"I am fine!" she protested, gesturing with her uninhibited hand for him to calm down. "I just... encountered resistance, that is all. Sit down, rest... oww..."

Matthew frowned.

"Alright, you know what?" he said. "Here." He sat down next to her, put an arm around her, and very gently guided her to lie across his lap, holding her head in the crook of his arm. "You're more injured than I am. It's only fair, right?"

She smiled. "I will admit that it perhaps hurts more than I am letting on," she said. "But unless you are sure you feel alright..."

Matthew waved her concerns aside. He spent the next few minutes applying what rudimentary aid he could, removing the bolts and cleaning the wounds, stemming the bleeding, unleashing any djinn he had that were capable of minor healing. All the while, he and Sveta traded stories, filling each other in on what had happened on both sides of the conflict.

"What I suspect happened, having given it some thought," Sveta said, "is that the psynergy trap fed on the energy of the djinn, rather than my own. My beastform did not last nearly as long as it should have, and I believe it is because the power that should have fueled it was drained. That does mean, however, that I can initiate it to save myself from those traps, should it happen again. It could provide several seconds of safety while I escape the area. I do not wish to test this theory, but it is very good for my peace of mind."

"Mine too," Matthew agreed. "I'm sorry I tried to stop you from coming along, and I should've known you would have found a way anyway. I was sort of right, though. You've been here what, fifteen minutes, and you already managed to nearly kill yourself?" He laughed. "I'm never going to send you away again. You need me around to watch out for you. You've proven yourself to be pretty resourceful at ending up in potentially fatal situations."

Sveta threw him a smirk in response. "This coming from the man who managed to stumble into a trap that he knew was coming. But you are right on one count," she said. She took hold of his hand and squeezed it tightly. "I do need you."

Matthew smiled and squeezed back.

Sveta's expression became pensive. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again. She let out a dissatisfied groan.

"What's wrong?" Matthew asked.

"Well, I... umm..." Sveta said, trailing off. She took a breath, and started again. "I am trying to find a way to say this. I think you and I, we... well..." She blushed. "This sounds so awkward now that I am trying to voice it."

Matthew shrugged. "Take your time."

"Well, you see... at Apollo Sanctum, we shared our souls, yes?" she asked. "I think we can agree on that. Something happened along those lines. But... you say you have never heard of that happening before. Few people know how to do it. And really, it is amazing that we both came out of it unaffected, as sharing one's soul does not seem like something people could do safely..."

Matthew nodded. He laughed as Sveta blushed again.

"This is difficult to say!" she cried. "Stop laughing, it is embarrassing... but, I mean... maybe it only worked so well because it is, umm, us."

She put a hand on Matthew's cheek. "Please do not laugh, but I propose that... perhaps our souls simply fit? That you and I, we might be, umm..." Her voice lowered to a shy whisper. "_Soulmates._"

Matthew barely managed to stifle a laugh – not at what she was saying, but at the way she said it. She seemed so withdrawn, so adorable! It felt so unlike her to be unwilling to voice an opinion, and...

He frowned. She was reading his mind again, wasn't she?

"...Sorry."

Matthew shrugged. "My bad, I guess. I got quiet again. But... I dunno, yeah. I haven't really thought about why it worked between us. I don't feel like I _could_ do the same thing with anybody else. Not that I've tried, but... it felt natural between you and I, you know? It felt right."

Sveta's face brightened immensely. "Really? I am so glad you think so!"

"Well, it's worked out so far, hasn't it?" Matthew said. "I'm looking forward to seeing where our relationship goes. If it doesn't work out, then it doesn't work out, but I mean, if we're meant to be together, it'll become obvious pretty fast, won't it?"

"Yeah," Sveta said, nodding and blushing. "Yeah, okay."

There was a moment of awkward silence punctuated by a simultaneous giggle from both parties.

"Umm..."

"Yep."

"Should we go, then?" Sveta asked. "If we are both done here..."

Matthew's headache was all but gone, and Sveta's shoulder was mended nicely. Surely, the others needed help on some front or another. But Matthew let his gaze drift up and down along the girl he held in his arms. His soulmate, huh?

"Nah," he finally said, "I vote we stay like this for a little bit longer."

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_For the record, I'm 90% certain that "Savage Raptor" is supposed to be, like, "Savage Rapture" or something. You know, like how "Death Size" is supposed to be "Death Scythe," and "Formina Sage" is supposed to be "Fulminous Edge." For a game with such fantastic localization, Golden Sun sure has crappy localization._

_Yes, I know I said I'd put up two stories, but..._

_1) The first chapter of Chronicles isn't quite done. It has about half an hour of work left to completion, so this isn't a huge issue. However..._

_2) I realized that, while the first chapter of Chronicles contains a spoiler, it's only a spoiler for an upcoming chapter of DoJ (chapter 65 probably). _

_So I figure I'll just post it later on. MtE is up, and it's relatively spoiler-free – there are a few minor details, but nothing groundbreaking. The second chapter of GS Extras actually spoils significantly more, depending on how closely you read it. I feel safe and secure in the mindset that nobody will run to the comments telling everyone how the story ends._

_No review responses today, even though I'm sure there are some very valid things to comment on. I have to get up early for school though, so I can't spare the time... sorry! Next chapter I'll make up the extra work._


	64. Sneak Attack

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Felix held up a hand to signal a stop just outside the hospital. Rief obediently held back around the nearest corner that could be confirmed to be safe (that is, the one Felix had just cleared), following the same pattern as they had almost since they had split off from the others. Felix had been studying squad tactics for decades now, even beyond what he and the others had learned alone in the quest of the Golden Sun; it had not been a conscious decision to teach Rief the same mannerisms, but the boy was a very quick learner, and after a few hand-signals (purely out of habit), they managed to work out a means of communication that brought them through encounter after encounter against vastly superior numbers.

Really, all that changed was that Felix didn't have to be as cautious as usual. Having a competent healer ensured that even the most grievous injuries were merely temporary, and Rief certainly knew how to lay down suppressive fire.

After a quick check of his autocrossbow, Felix reached out with his mind to track nearby signs of life. He was a little rusty when it came to psynergy – Isaac had apparently been able to track Tyrell across an entire forest a few months back, while Felix could barely manage a few hundred metres – but he was confident that he could feel around for signs of an ambush.

Nothing. The only signs of life he felt were his own, and Rief's. That didn't mean that the hospital was empty, of course – just that there was no one waiting inside the front door for them.

Felix made a quick beckoning motion, and he heard rapid footsteps behind him as he approached the doorway. He pushed the door open, checked his corners just in case, and let Rief in, holding the door with one foot.

"Okay, crash course in the building's layout," Felix announced. "Main floor is administrative duties and waiting area. Second and third floors are for emergency treatment. Anything above that is long-term care and non-urgent stuff. Below us is the stasis chambers, but it takes a little while to prepare someone for that kind of storage, so there's no point in searching there."

Rief nodded. "We're probably looking to check out the upper floors then, right? If they've got Karst, they'll be preparing her for stasis, which doesn't sound like an emergency treatment thing. And if they've got any worthwhile medical technology, it'll probably be up and around the long-term care area."

With a grunt, Felix confirmed that he had come to the same conclusion. "I'll stop every floor or so to check for signs of life-"

He paused.

There were a few people on the floor immediately above them. He couldn't tell how many – again, he cursed his years of neglect – but it was definitely more than one.

He held a finger to his lips. He made a go-there motion on the side of the door of the nearest stairway. Then he walked through, looked back at Rief – now leaning against the doorframe – and made a stay-alert motion, then a follow-me motion, then a going-there motion up the stairs. This took all of three seconds, and put them both in the mindset of staying quiet and moving quickly.

Felix led the way, autocrossbow held straight ahead, and Rief followed, ready to unleash cold hell at a moment's notice.

* * *

"No. Absolutely not. How stupid do you think I am?"

Karst stood, arms folded, in the square outside of the archives. The square where she was apparently expected to wait, alone and without any hope of backup, against at least one of the Warriors of Vale. Probably more.

"You plan to watch from a safe distance," she said to Mia and Caudgel. "On the off chance I survive, you'll sweep in to finish me off afterward. And if they take me down with combined arms, you'll take advantage of their weakened state to snare victory. Either way, you win and I lose."

Mia shrugged. "She's got a point. Want me to hang around out here? The two of us could probably take on the others, assuming it's just the people who were in Bilibin."

"No, the Empyror wants to meet with you just inside," Caudgel said. "You wouldn't want to disappoint him, would you?"

Eyes widening, Mia shook her head quickly. "Oh! Of course not! We should hurry. Does he want to meet Karst too?"

Caudgel paused. "...Well, he didn't mention anything about her," she muttered. "She probably wasn't there. Won't be, I guess... so to maintain timeline stability..." She pressed her thumb to the centre of her forehead. "I hate time travel. I hate it _so much._"

Karst raised an eyebrow.

Caudgel threw her arms into the air. "You know what? Whatever. Suit yourself. Stay here if you want to, I'm pretty sure the Warriors are coming through soon. They'll probably be severely weakened by all the waves of our soldiers they had to cut through. But whatever you do, don't follow us. We're meeting with His Highness. He's going to travel through time to meet me half an hour ago. He isn't going to know for sure whether you're in the city or not. If you meet with him, that will change history and it might cause the universe to explode."

There was a tense pause.

"Again," hissed Karst, "how stupid do you think I am?"

Caudgel made an about-face turn and stormed off toward the archives, Mia shrugging apologetically and then following after her.

Karst debated following them, partly to call their bluff, and partly to risk destroying existence purely out of spite.

* * *

Of course, it was only another minute or so later before Caudgel left Mia behind in the labyrinthine corridors, the maze of books, books and more books, at more or less the location of the Empyror's time travel event... or at least, where it had been before, assuming it would... ugh.

The General shook her head to clear her mind of such foolishness. Mia had been told to wait until Caudgel returned; there was some business to take care of. Without further explanation, Caudgel had gone searching, planning to return shortly and trusting that she wouldn't – couldn't – be late.

In truth, she was deeply concerned, because Maddie appeared to have vanished into thin air. She had left the girl behind at the meeting place – a stupid, stupid move in retrospect, hiding someone in a position where the rules of causality guaranteed they would be found – and seeing the location vacant was somewhat of a mixed blessing.

On the one hand, it made it easier to hide the girl if she was already gone. On the other... where could she have gone?

Movement.

Without turning to look, Caudgel identified that something had moved just out of her view. She listened carefully, hearing footsteps along a carpeted floor. And she successfully hid the fact that she had noticed anything; let the other person think they still held the element of surprise.

A few possibilities rolled through her head, as she continued to move – slowly enough to let her pursuer catch up, but in such a manner as to hide her knowledge of pursuit. By the time the footsteps had come within the desirable distance, she already had a good idea who her stalker was.

She spun, bringing her hand in line to grab a weapon along its most likely attack, saw that the attacker had hesitated to the point of not attacking _at all,_ and brought the hand back across to pin the offending weapon against a wall.

Maddie whimpered in pain and her fingers relaxed, letting the knife fall to the ground.

Caudgel glared. "You were never on our side in the first place, were you?" she said. "You managed to convince me to bring you along because you needed to watch over the green-haired girl. And the soldier I sent to guard you didn't make a move against you – you simply murdered him. But it really was your first time taking a life, which is why you never made your escape. So when I brought you along, you came willingly, planning to look for a chance to make your move. Am I right so far?"

A shiver and silence were confirmation enough.

"But... if you thought yourself capable of taking a life again, you wouldn't have hesitated against me," she continued, only now realizing that there was more to the situation. "And if you didn't think you had it in you, you would have just run. The fact that you tried to make the move and failed, means that you had some pressing reason to do so, external or internal, and at the same time some pressing reason not to. If you had encountered the Empyror, he would not have ordered you to attack me. If you had met the Warriors, they would not have sent you alone. The only other thing I can think of is..."

Caudgel tensed.

"The dossier," she whispered. "You read my dossier."

Only then did she see Maddie's eyes in the dim light. Red from tears, and awash with emotion, a terrible mix of hatred, of fear, and of betrayal... so much betrayal.

Neither of them moved an inch for a long moment.

"...Why?" Maddie said through staggered breaths. "Why... why did you..."

"Because it is my nature, girl," Caudgel said. "The quest for power is its own excuse. I wish things had turned out differently, but... I have no regrets."

"You abandoned me."

"You would have done the same."

"_I'm not like you!_"

"And yet," Caudgel said with silent satisfaction, "you made up your mind to stab me in the back, just so you wouldn't have to face the truth. So that your shame could die with me. Tell me, do you honestly think we're so different?"

The inarticulate roar of rage that incited was cut short by Caudgel's finger on Maddie's lips.

"Hush. Remember where you are, and where the danger truly is," Caudgel advised. "If you read the dossier, you know you are at no risk of harm from me. But the Empyror is scheduled to arrive any moment, if he isn't here already. Find somewhere to hide, stay quiet, and don't you dare make a move. It will be at your own peril, and I will be powerless to protect you."

Maddie said nothing.

Caudgel just met her eyes, and very gradually released her hand from where it had been pinned against the wall.

Neither of them took a single step.

Never tearing her eyes away, Maddie slowly knelt and picked up the knife from where it had fallen.

The tears began to well up again.

"_I hate you._"

Caudgel nodded.

"I'll explain everything when I return," said the older woman. "I'm sure you have a lot of questions. Now, go."

Maddie gave one last tear-filled glare, displaying all of her emotions openly and honestly for the first time since she left Bilibin, and stepped away.

Caudgel waited until she was gone.

She made sure that her face was still unreadable and that her movements were still calm.

Because she had been right, after all. They really weren't so different.

The Empyror arrived shortly thereafter, Caudgel and Mia explained the city's situation to him, and he flashed back in time to complete the causal circuit and warn the past about an incoming assault. As the light faded and the two women found themselves alone, Caudgel realized that the twisted skein of time travel might not be the most complicated thing on her mind.

* * *

Felix and Rief stopped just outside the final doorway, just outside the room they knew to be occupied. The Warrior of Vale glanced back to make sure Rief was still watching, and then breathed deeply.

He raised three fingers.

Lowered one.

Lowered another.

And as one, they burst around the corner, an autocrossbow raised and a pair of hands prepared to unleash a barrage of psynergy-

Felix stopped and gasped, lowering his weapon and holding out a hand to signal Rief to stop – an unnecessary gesture, as the boy realized immediately that this was no time to fight.

"Ivan?" Felix said. "What are you doing here?"

The other man let out a breath that slowly transformed into laughter. "Oh wow, the way you two entered... I thought you were soldiers."

Ivan lowered his guard and stepped away from the operating table he had hurriedly positioned himself in front of. On it was Karis, lying on her belly and still unconscious. The back of her shirt had been pulled up, and some stitches were visible among the raw-looking scars that were signs of recent Mercury healing.

"How's she doing?" Rief asked as he hurried over. "Is she alright? Why is she even here?"

Ivan smiled. "She's fine, and I think I have your mother to thank for that. This looks like her work. I still don't know how she was wounded-"

"Looks like a small blade, probably a knife, stuck in her back and then jerked sharply to the side, which makes me think her assailant was actually in front of her at the time-"

"-but it looks like it could have been fatal if it hadn't been addressed quickly," finished Ivan over Rief's interruption. "As for why she's here, I don't really know. Sveta and I found her weapon just outside the city, and there was a lot of blood."

"So naturally," said Felix, "you changed your mind and decided you had to come along. But how in the world did you fly all this way?"

Ivan explained Karis's zol flyer, along with his method of checking for landmarks. He then went on to describe Sveta's trauma, her depression, and her eventual resolution to come along no matter what it took.

"It was tough to carry her and propel the flyer at the same time. We almost didn't make it. The flyer didn't survive the landing, unfortunately. It was a really impressive bit of machinery, but at the time I was more concerned with making sure my daughter was safe than anything else. Now that I know she's alright, I guess I can rest easy." He leaned back, looking satisfied, as Rief applied some basic healing techniques to accelerate Karis's recovery.

Felix's shoulders sagged. "Well, I would probably have done something similar in your position, even though I can't really say I support your decision to bring Sveta along." He nodded in the direction of the next room over. "What's she doing, anyway? I'm surprised she didn't come over when she heard us speaking."

Ivan raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean? Sveta and I, uh... got separated... shortly after arriving in the city. What makes you think she can hear us?"

Felix froze.

He definitely sensed someone next door. If it wasn't Sveta, then...

"It's a trap!" he shouted. "Take Karis, and-"

There was a loud _bang_ and a flash of blinding light. Ivan and Rief were caught completely flat-footed, but Felix had had the presence of mind to look away and shut his eyes when he noticed the flashbang explosive coming down the corridor. His ears rang and his balance was off, but at least he could see, and he could handle himself in a stressful situation like this one.

Without a second thought, he leaped out into the hallway and fired blindly in the direction the explosive had come from. He saw an odd shape move back into one of the side rooms, and kept firing short bursts at random intervals to keep the enemy inside.

As his hearing started to return, he heard a weak _hiss_ that seemed to come from everywhere at once.

Felix ran back into the room and pulled Rief and Ivan back to their feet. They were both still disoriented, but Ivan managed to pull up next to Felix in some semblance of a battle formation.

A massive gout of flame blew through the hallway, and while the fire didn't actually enter the room, there was enough heat and rushing air to almost knock them all back down again.

"Can you hear me?" Felix shouted, hoping that Ivan had recovered enough to be useful again. Seeing a confused, but deliberate nod, he continued. "Take Karis and Rief, go to the archives. Opposite side of the city. Jenna will be there, tell her I'll meet her at the palace. Go!"

Without waiting for an answer, Felix launched himself back into the hallway and fired another barrage blindly through the haze and smoke. His weapon ran empty, so he reloaded, then brought it back at the ready.

He heard Ivan stumble out the door behind him and head down the hallway to the staircase. Presumably, Karis was over his shoulder or something, and Rief was following closely, but Felix couldn't afford the luxury of turning around to check.

He started edging back to follow them, but a loud, high-pitched laugh that sounded oddly filtered came from the room before him, and he knew that he was out of time.

Another burst of flame came forth, and he didn't have a chance to fire; he just dove for cover and flattened himself to the ground, hoping to protect himself from the worst of the attack. His back blistered from the heat and his skin kept prickling even after the flame dissipated. Felix scrambled to his feet and threw off the burning remnants of his cloak, patting out the bit of his hair that had caught fire.

When the next attack came, he was close enough to the stairwell to get inside and out of the way. But this time it was an explosion, not simply a fireball, and the blastwave knocked him off his feet and down the stairs. He lost his grip on his weapon midway down, but heard it clatter to the ground next to him as he landed. He pushed the pain aside and forced himself to get up again.

He could see the exit from where he stood. Just another short sprint, and-

"Ah, ah, ah! Not so fast!"

There was one last explosion, and this one was right in front of him. He was sent flying back against the wall opposite his escape route. Everything hurt, and all of the air was forced out of his lungs on impact. Try as he might, he wasn't able to recover from this one so easily. As all of his muscles groaned in protest, all he could do was squirm.

"You know, I was going to wait for everyone to show up before I made my move, but I guess I got greedy," came a muffled voice from just up the stairs. "You're lucky you saw it coming. I could have fried you all in an instant."

A pair of knee-high boots rounded the corner of the staircase and descended. He couldn't go up, and he couldn't go out because that would cross in front of her and leave him wide open. His only escape was downstairs toward the basement floors and stasis cells... but throwing himself downstairs wouldn't be a smart idea in light of his current situation.

But then again, he didn't many options. And as his assailant finally came into view, he knew he was in even more trouble than he had originally thought.

Her uniform was familiar. He had seen the heart-motif many, many times over the course of his "employment." The hands each had a set of steel claws attached to them. Her hair was an odd pinkish color, and it fell down to her knees in long ribbons. Her face, framed by a pair of horns, was mostly hidden behind a gas mask. But Felix didn't need to see her face to know who she was.

"Chalis," he coughed, sending clouds of ash floating off of his outfit. "I was wondering when we'd run into you."

"You didn't think I'd miss out on this, did you?" she asked, tilting her head at a mocking angle. "And even if I didn't get your friends, and even if I've lost the element of surprise, I could always just divide and conquer-"

Chalis always did have a habit of rambling.

Felix interrupted her monologue using his psynergy to shift the bits of dirt, ash and rubble beneath her feet, which had a similar effect to pulling a carpet out from beneath someone. Her feet were thrown out behind her. He pushed himself to his feet at the same time, angling his ascent so as to knee her in the face as he did so.

Without another moment of hesitation, he launched himself down the stairs. He didn't even have time to pick up his weapon.

He rounded as many corners as he could, trying to gain distance and break line of sight at the same time. But as he lost himself in the rows and rows of stasis cells, the significance of Chalis's gas mask, and of the hissing he was still hearing, finally came together.

She had somehow rigged the whole building to fill with her damned delusion perfume. She was immune to it. And Felix had been breathing it for at least a solid minute.

He was unarmed, alone, and probably already feeling the effects.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_School, work, and a social life. That's what kept me from posting over the last month and a half. I'm actually in the midst of exam season, but I've been feeling that writing itch for a while and eventually I just said screw studying, it's time to MAKE WORDS HAPPEN!_

_The thing I regret most of all is that I missed April Fool's Day. I had a story idea all set up too... You know how I keep saying a major character is going to die off before the story's over, and that hasn't happened yet? I was going to put up a chapter where Sveta dies tragically, and Matthew cries over her for a while, but then revives her as a zombie and marries her anyway and they have a wonderful family of half-zombie babies._

_Hey, it's better than MPreg._

_Updates are going to start coming once a week, by the way. My schedule's cleared up a ton now that classes are over, so watch for a new chapter every... let's say Thursday by 10pm(GMT-5). Chances are that the chapter will actually go up earlier in the day (if I finish a chapter then I get bored and want the instant gratification that comes from posting a page). Still, it means that if I do my job right, you'll have something new to read every Friday morning when you wake up! I'll do my best to actually follow the schedule this time._

_Review responses, most of them rather late (sorry about that):_

_JamesK716: (To your chapter 62 comments...) That was the "current" Empyror. He hadn't yet met with Caudgel and Mia. Once he does that, he skips back in time, meets past-Caudgel, and then goes home to sleep for a while. Then there's only one Empyror to worry about. And thanks for the grammar warning... I'll have to find and fix that when I have a chance._

_(To your chapter 63 comments...) If Sveta took an arrow in the knee, wouldn't that mean she'd have to stop being an adventurer? That would ruin the story! _

_As for the stealth scene... well, one of the things I like to do when I'm writing is to try to put the reader in the character's mindset whenever possible. The very bare-bones description I gave of Sveta's stealth bit was meant to give you the idea that she's barely thinking about it at all. It's partly because she's acting on instinct, and it's partly because it's so mundane. It's hardly worth noting, at least in her mind. _

_And anyway, the stealth scene was rather irrelevant. The point was to communicate that she was moving through the castle, and that there were, in fact, guards posted. The fact that Sveta could get past them with no difficulty whatsoever kind of spoke for itself; it'd be like writing a novelization of Golden Sun 1&2 that included a full description of every single random encounter the teams had._

_Meat Wisdom: Bleh, I hate those mistranslations. Death Size always sounded like Menardi was trying to shrink you to death, and Formina Sage made me think that Dullahan was trying to smack somebody with like, a wizard or something. As for Savage Rapture vs Savage Raptor... I'd prefer the implication to be that it's a perfect union of enlightenment and ferocity – a truly savage type of rapture – rather than Sveta going "Raaawr! Imma dinosaur! This is how **DINOSAURS** punch people!"_

_Skafe: I forget if I've posted this in a review response before, or if I just mentioned it in private messages to someone, but the reason I kept unconsciously doing bad things to Sveta is this: I felt that Sveta could handle it. Occasionally I would be writing the story, and I'd get the idea that I needed an emotional event to occur, to drag the reader into the story a little more and give the plot some more impact. Usually that would boil down to a fight, or some kind of injury... and Sveta is the kind of person who can take a beating and walk away from it. Just for comparison, imagine Rief taking some of the hits Sveta's taken. He's moderately more heroic here than in canon, but he'd still be a useless wreck by this point in the story. Sveta, on the other hand, takes a licking and keeps on ticking. If you just read Chapter 63 on its own, you'd never know she'd undergone all that tragedy._

_Karis is nice, but Sveta thinks she's a horrible monster because poor Sveta's animal instincts recognize Karis as the source of all the trauma in Bilibin prison. They haven't had an opportunity yet to meet up and resolve things, one way or another._

_Rief went with Felix from the docks to the hospital. The idea was that a high-tech Tuaparang medical building would be full of high-tech Tuaparang medical technology, and Rief wanted to get a good look at it. Plus, the archives group was composed solely of people related to Isaac and Jenna's little dilemma (ie. their family), and the palace group would have been the most likely of the three to encounter the Empyror, which meant it was probably a good idea to send Mars Adepts alone at first._

_Chalis is using delusion perfume to give herself a leg up, followed by all sorts of Mars psynergy to try and win the day. Things are looking grim, but THAT MAKES THINGS MORE EXCITING_

_The Empyror's mindfuckery is probably still a threat, even with his Djinni. If all else failed, he could just put Halo on standby for the minute or two it took to get a hold of his opponent..._

_Knight-Dawn: Pah, I'd never make people wait four months! What kind of a crazy person would... would... uh... nevermind._

_Thanks for the reviews! Next chapter: **FIGHT SCENES**_


	65. Pride

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Karst knew she had been spotted the moment Isaac and Jenna rounded the corner. No matter; she had been making no effort to hide. She didn't move an inch, even as Isaac pulled Jenna aside. She didn't say a word, as she watched their heated, worried discussion. Every few seconds or so she just readjusted her grip on her scythe – her knuckles were white enough already, and if she gripped any tighter she was at risk of cutting off circulation entirely.

From their gestures, Karst figured that Isaac was trying to convince Jenna not to get involved (the Proxian never understood why Jenna seemed to take it as a compliment that her partner didn't think she was strong enough to survive). Having to wait for those two – Isaac mostly – grated on Karst's every nerve. But it was imperative that she stay where she was and let them come to her. They would eventually.

And of course they did. Isaac walked about a step ahead of Jenna, his stance protective and his arms tense as coiled springs. Karst couldn't even imagine how _she_ looked... to Isaac, after all, ignorant, ruthless Isaac, she was just a potential threat. But Isaac was everything Karst hated. He stood for pointless opposition and unnecessary conflict. He had power from dumb luck, never having worked to earn it. He did his best at every turn to prevent the changes the world needed, and he was willing to pay any price to do it.

Oh, and he had killed her sister. That was a pretty big thing for her too.

Karst had nothing against Jenna, and in fact would prefer to see her unharmed – she reminded Karst of Felix, after all. Felix, but a Mars Adept. What a combination. If she wasn't so tightly bound to Isaac... but she was. That man poisoned everything he touched. And so it made Karst's next move incredibly difficult, despite it being the only true option available to her.

Isaac and Karst watched each other carefully. She stood still, and he approached carefully. Gradually, he began to circle around her, perhaps in some vain hope that he could go around her. So she took a slow step into his path, declaring her intent.

Isaac stopped, a pained and defeated look on his face. "We don't need to-" he began.

"Save it," Karst interrupted. "Where's Felix? Why is it just the two of you?"

"It doesn't have to turn into-" Isaac started to say, but he was interrupted again as Jenna took over.

"He went to the hospital," she said, "looking for you." Straight and to the point. Good for her.

But her words couldn't be taken at face value. Karst looked directly into her eyes with a fierce gaze, sharp and stinging as the winds of the north. After a moment, Jenna flinched and looked away. Not many could meet Karst's eyes directly, and so she took it as evidence that Jenna was telling the truth; a liar would have tried to keep eye contact to seem more convincing.

So Felix was alive. And the first thing he did upon his arrival was to come to where he thought she would be. From anyone else, that would be insulting. But his actions cast a different light. Something in his manner said that it was never about the strong protecting the weak. It was about strength in numbers, about the strong protecting the strong so they could be even greater than the sum of their parts. He went to her because they could be beaten alone, but together... well, just a short while ago they had stood against the majority of Tuaparang's forces and come out victorious. Isaac wanted to shield Jenna from danger, but Felix understood that it was folly to sacrifice himself for another, when two working together would come out in one piece.

She refused to blush. Dwelling on it would only dull her focus, and the matter at hand required all of her attention.

So she drew herself up straight, and locked eyes with her nemesis.

"Let me make something clear, Isaac," Karst said. "I will never forgive you. Never. Your ignorance very nearly destroyed the world, and it took the only family I've ever known from me. You're stubborn, you're arrogant, and if I ended you right now humanity would be much, much better off."

She lifted her scythe and let it hang parallel to the ground.

"Any other time, I would finish this without a second thought. But luckily for you, I have more important matters to attend to, and right now you are the person I hate _second-_most in this city. You might have killed my sister, but at least you didn't hold me hostage for twenty years, attempt to kill me, and then have the gall to try to use me as a weapon afterward. I want the Empyror dead, and I cannot do it alone. I'm in no position to make any more enemies, and neither are you. So consider this a truce."

With that, Karst stepped aside to allow Isaac and Jenna to walk by. Ignoring their looks of surprise, she started a beeline toward the palace.

"Oh, by the way..." she said, halting just long enough to speak, "The one with the knife's waiting just inside, as is your blue-haired friend. I believe they're waiting to ambush you."

"Hey, hold on!" cried Jenna as Karst turned to leave.

It seemed much more effective to ignore her, so that was what Karst did. But when Jenna grabbed something at Karst's waistline and yanked it, that sort of cool ignorance ceased to come easily.

An odd, rectangular pouch came off in Jenna's hand, and she quickly tossed it away.

"What-?" Karst started. "How dare you! That was probably important-"

"Watch," Jenna said.

She raised a hand, and with a flick of her wrist sent a smallish orb of flame at the satchel where it had landed about fifteen feet away.

There was a wall of heat, air and noise. Karst was knocked flat on her back. She quickly got her bearings, raised herself up on her arms, and saw only a cloud of smoke where the satchel had been.

When the ringing in her ears finally stopped, she tried to sputter out a question, mixed with a few expletives.

"The Tuaparang tried to bring down a building on us," Jenna said. "I spotted a few of these scattered around and wondered what they were for, but I didn't guess it until just now. It just seemed odd to me that the Empyror would really send you after us without an insurance policy."

The other Mars Adept got to her feet without any difficulty and started off toward the archive entrance with Isaac. To her credit – Karst believed – she didn't offer a hand up. They were even, after all, a tipoff for a tipoff.

It still took a minute or so for Karst to get back up with her stupid goddamn leg augmentation.

* * *

"_Get up!" he heard. "Weakling! If you can't survive, you don't deserve to!"_

_He wanted to obey, but his arms did not._

_He felt a buildup of energy from some distance behind him, and forced himself to roll out of the way anyway. Just in time, too; while the fire blast was poorly aimed (as he would eventually recognize), it had plenty of power behind it. An infant with a spear could still puncture your kidneys._

_Karst did not believe in the concept of a "safe training environment." Proxians in general didn't seem to, in fact._

_Felix was unarmed, smarting from several burns, and_ starting to panic a little as the delusions got worse and worse. He was certain that one of these times he'd fall into a less intense memory, or at least a less fitting one.

He unleashed a Djinni to soothe his wounds as much as he could hope to without a Mercury Adept, and then scrambled up off the floor, taking off at a painful run and zigzagging frequently. Cover mattered more than anything in this fight, even if the cover was only rows and rows of stasis tubes. The eerie glow emanating from them was the only light in the room, aside from Chalis' frequent orange bursts. The girl was throwing fireballs like she would never run out. For all Felix knew, she wouldn't – she had never been anywhere near this powerful before, which meant she was getting some help from technological adaptations, or maybe even a few Mars Djinn.

So she was trying to roast him with all the enthusiasm of a child with a new toy, and he had next to nothing to fight back with. He had Djinn, he could throw out the occasional Odyssey, and... that was it. Quake didn't work without ground to shake. Gaia came from below the surface of Weyard, which was a little out of range.

Sensing another attack, Felix ducked behind a wall that separated two rows of stasis tanks and flattened himself against it. If he couldn't fight back yet, he would wait until the opportunity presented itself; it would happen eventually.

A jet of flame blew down the walkways on either side of him. He heard the glass crack and shatter from heat on more than one tube. Sweat poured down his forehead. It was starting to get hot, and the room's climate control systems weren't designed to keep up with a mad Mars Adept.

"You might as well just come out, Felix, darling!" Chalis called from far too close by for him to be comfortable. "I can't say I'll make your end painless, but I can try to _dull the pain of your failure," Menardi said. "We gave the boy to you to take care of. You took it upon yourself to teach him our ways, and while Saturos and I agree that teaching him tenacity would aid our goals, we need a Venus Adept more than we need another sword arm."_

"_Sister, he refuses to learn our ways!" Karst protested. "He still expects me to go easy on him when he's exhausted or hurt. And... and those people with their stupid_ mercy!_ It infuriates me so-"_

"_So much that you needed to take revenge? That you tried to murder him on the basis that he might have taken pity on you, just once?"_

_Felix flinched from where he hid. Menardi rarely raised her voice; she could intimidate easily enough without an outward display of anger. The fact that she was shouting at her little sister, of all people..._

_He felt guilty. Karst was right – he should have learned by now how offended they got sometimes. When the roles had been reversed for once, and she had hurt herself during their training (a sprained ankle), he should have known not to offer support. _

_Frankly, he shouldn't have even been out of bed after being so injured, but he needed to know what was going on. Felix hated feeling out of the loop, and that anxiety had kicked itself into overdrive after what he realized had been the second time death had come calling. That was two too many for a boy of fifteen._

_He was sick of Prox. He was sick of this stupid endurance training. He was sick of feeling guilty, of making Karst suffer for what he was starting to perceive as his own inadequacy, and he was sick_ of this stupid delusion perfume. He shook the fog away and looked around, and at himself, to make sure he hadn't been out for too long.

It had only been a few seconds this time, it seemed. But the heat had receded somewhat, and the smoke had cleared. The dark, angular surfaces reflected only the phosphorescent white-green of the stasis liquid, much of it spilled along the grated floors.

Felix realized with a start that he had no idea where Chalis was, and she had stopped casting flames to announce her presence.

He looked up first (far too many people neglect to look upward for danger), and then to his left and right. Nothing. He closed his eyes and opened his ears. There was too much ambient noise to hear someone walking softly; fluid dripped from shattered stasis tubes and through the gaps in the floor, and sophisticated machinery worked its hardest to cool the room down to stable levels.

So he reached out and felt for her spirit.

There it was, just a few rows away, moving slowly. He was safe for now – she was moving purposefully, but not with any real direction. She had no idea where he was. So he had another minute or so to catch his _breath away. It sounded so cliche, especially after all she had put him through, but by this point they had spent two years together. He spent almost every waking moment doing whatever it was she wanted him to do, and he should have hated her for it. But some time after his near-death experience, he had decided never to let her down again – not because he thought her standards were acceptable, but because he hated the idea that she should suffer for his sake. He bore all the pain for both of them. And suddenly, before either of them realized what was happening, they stopped being adversaries and started co-operating._

_He told himself that it was a purely platonic sort of awe, that feeling he felt when he saw her slip underneath her opponent's strikes again and again. And then he forced himself to ignore it, because watching her meant he wasn't watching his own enemy, and he still couldn't hope to win one-on-one against anyone in the entire city above the age of nine._

_Luckily, he had gotten very good at protecting himself, which meant when scuffles broke out among townsfolk, like here, all he had to do was fend off attacks and let his opponents wear themselves _out in the open. He was out in the open. She was RIGHT THERE, why couldn't she see him yet, maybe her eyes hadn't adjusted properly because of all the bright flames she had been sending out, why wasn't he moving MOVE MOVE MOVE

And purely out of impulse he threw his fist out as hard as he could, striking her _jaw, and the other guy stumbled, but he pulled himself together inhumanly fast and threw out a blind heat wave._

_Felix dodged it almost effortlessly and moved in for another staggering attack, striking his opponent hard on the side of the knee. That leg buckled slightly, and Felix shifted just enough to bring his other fist out for a pushing-punch to the chest. The other man fell, and Felix bolted. There was no lost honor in surrender if surrender meant survival._

_He had no idea where Karst had gone. He had been disarmed a short while ago, and while he wasn't particularly attached to his sword, it would be suicide to keep going without a weapon._

_There. He spotted a particularly solid-looking icicle glinting in the dim moonlight. It was no greatsword, but it was better than nothing._

_He kept going, moving quickly and quietly as he had been taught. As one of only four non-natives in the city, he stood out, and if someone spotted him and decided he was an easy mark, he'd be in trouble._

_But before long, he heard cursing. A subtle glance around the bend told him that he had found his partner, and that she had found trouble._

_Getting a little closer, he realized she was fighting Agatio. A thickly-built warrior with a thicker skull, he was nevertheless Karst's match in most respects. And he hadn't been worn out by several consecutive fights, as she had. The girl was in trouble._

_Two years ago, Felix would have helped her without a second thought, and she would have hated him for it. A year and a half ago, Felix would have left her alone, confident that she would prefer to face her own battles._

_But this was now. They knew each other well enough. And he calculated that a single, decisive strike would buy Karst the time she needed to either get away or win, without putting himself in anything more than a supporting role._

_He gripped the icicle tightly, sprinted down the alleyway, caught Karst's eye, and as she darted forward, letting her guard down for a strike at Agatio's hamstrings, Felix drove his improvised weapon deep into the shoulder of the arm that would have punished her for it._

_And as the giant collapsed from both attacks – wounded, though he would live – they _ran. Chalis' cries, a roughly equal mix of agony and fury, followed him as he tried to make his escape, as did her wild, reflexive bursts of fire.

He noticed, for the first time, a pain in his right palm. His glove had been torn open and the hand beneath it was bleeding quite noticeably. But how?

The final piece of the puzzle connected itself as he eyed the shattered bits of glass all over the floor. That had been his improvised weapon. Somehow, in the midst of delusion, he had managed to score a hit and get out unscathed. This was his chance to run.

But as he slid to a stop behind another row of tubes, he realized that he had been fleeing in the wrong direction. Chalis was between him and his exit.

"FELIX!" she screamed. "I'll cook you, then I'll roast you, then I'll burn your body and then **burn the fucking ashes!**"

An impossible heatwave bellowed out from where she stood, and if Felix had been in the open then that would have been the end. As it was, the heat nearly overcame him, and as the light dimmed and the attack faded, he looked around the corner and saw a small mushroom cloud spreading from the source.

That was it. She was between him and his exit. And though he didn't want to face _her head on, he had no choice. It tore at him. He hoped desperately that this was just some other dragon, one that happened to share her fighting style, her idiosyncrasies of movement that he knew how to support, how to adapt to, how to exploit._

_But it was just too similar. This glowing beast was his Karst. He didn't know how or why, but the spirit that lay within this Flame Dragon was one he could never bear to part with, even in light of her recent betrayal. And yet it had to be done._

_Only one of them would come out of this alive, and if he didn't make sure it was him, it would go against every lesson she had ever taught._

_The worst part was that he couldn't rely on any support, either. Isaac had gone down very early in the fight. Mia and Jenna were tending to him, but he wasn't getting up any time soon. Piers and Garet had their hands full with the other dragon – Agatio, it must have been – and Ivan and Sheba were trying to support both battles, with a little more emphasis on Agatio._

_It seemed unfair on the surface, but it had become standard procedure as the group had adventured. Divide and conquer. Let Felix hold off whatever he could as the others tore down the enemy target by target. He sure did have a talent for fighting defensively! Wonder where he learned that?_

_Heat washed over him as he skipped away from a supernova. A gout of flame came from the dragon's mouth, and he ducked underneath it just in time._

"_A direct attack?" she would have said. "Stupid. You open yourself up to attacks of all kinds, and you __can't just weather that sort of barrage. You wouldn't make it ten feet."_

_But he did._

_Then he made it fifteen. And then twenty._

_Because Felix had been learning. He was growing and developing as a fighter, taking Karst's lessons and adapting them to new situations. Without his Djinn, he was still nowhere near her match._

_And yet in Prox, one would take any advantage they had. To hold back was the gravest of insults. It implied that you felt your opponent was too weak to survive your full strength._

_So as he heard the other Flame Dragon roar in agony and collapse beneath repeated blows, he held nothing back against his own adversary. _

_A claw swiped down. He knew the pattern. He ducked in and around, striking the beast in the gut with a fist._

_A fan of fire came forth, sending him stumbling for just a second. But he struck back by getting inside the dragon's guard, putting her off-balance._

_The fire burned, from that close. But he endured it, and he pushed Karst with all his strength._

_She fell back, her guard dropped. Her arms were slightly askew, her legs were poorly positioned to support her own body weight._

_That was it._

_Felix focused his energy – the energy of the earth itself, of the spirits of life, of Venus – into several mighty blades, five in all. One struck each of her legs, immobilizing her. One penetrated each forearm, leaving her vulnerable and unable to block the last._

_The fifth hovered just above her abdomen._

_He looked into the dragon's dark eyes. For a moment, he swore he saw the woman beneath._

_In her eyes, there was no fear. Only understanding. Only pride._

"N-NO!" Chalis cried, helpless to defend herself. Her arms were pinned, and as she struggled she only made her wounds worse. "I can't lose to you! I CAN'T! IT'S IMPOSSIBLE! You... you CHEATED, it's so unfair, I can't die, LET ME LIVE...!"

In her eyes, there was no understanding. All her pride was gone. There was only fear.

Felix paused.

"It's nothing_ personal," he said. She already knew that. But he felt better saying it._

_Like he wasn't condemning himself._

_But she wouldn't accept anything less._

_The fifth and final blade hit home._

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Sorry this is a few hours late. I hadn't planned for it to go so deeply into each characters' fighting styles etc, so it took a lot more time and thought than I originally realized. Next time, I'll start working on it BEFORE the day of the deadline..._

_Karst is a lot of fun to write, I find, just because she takes herself so seriously. In some ways she provides a starkly different perspective on the world, a pragmatic point of view driven by an utterly alien upbringing, but sometimes... I guess she provides a good amount of humor that would be unintentional from her perspective. (How 'bout that anticlimax, huh? I've been waiting for ages to pull that one.)_

_And for the record, I know C4 doesn't detonate when it's set on fire. The Tuas have access to all sorts of technology! Their explosives probably run on enslaved Mars spirits or something. Hell if I know._

_I feel like it's a little unfair that we know so little about the time Felix spent in Prox. There's probably some serious story in there, and my headcanon is what you see above. He sat around and complained until he realized that he wasn't the only one suffering, and that was when he developed the kind of drive you see in the games. I also figure that not everyone in Prox might have agreed that sheltering a handful of outsiders was the best idea – I'm sure some infighting would have broken out, and I suspect that if Karst was part of the friendly camp, she might have switched after her sister's death._

_I know I said fight scenes, plural, but if I were to do Isaac/Jenna vs Caudgel/Mia, we'd be here all night, and I have work in the morning. I'll see if I can belt that out tomorrow, either as a "bonus" update or as part of the next chapter. There's too much emotion in there anyway... if I snuck it in as part of this update, on top of the Karst/Felix tragedy you've just read, I'm sure some hearts would just snap in half._

_Next update's due on May 3rd at 10pm (GST-5)! Let's see if I can actually reach it this time._


	66. Fallen Angel

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

"Well, that was a little anticlimactic," Isaac admitted quietly once he and Jenna had shut the doors behind them. They stood in the lobby of the archives, and while he sensed no one nearby, he knew Caudgel liked to wear her psynergy-warding choker, and it was possible that she would be immune to his detection; he sensed two people in the building, aside from himself and Jenna, but he knew that Caudgel might not be one of them.

Jenna nodded. "Better than fighting her, though. I still have no idea what my brother sees in that woman, but we'll need all our strength for the fight ahead... are you sure you'll be okay with this, Isaac?"

His face darkened, and his eyes were a grim grey-blue. "Physically, I'm fine. But for one thing, I still have nagging worries about Matthew – he's proven himself capable, yes, but he doesn't have a lot of experience. I'm worried he might let his guard down and do something stupid, and since he's on his own..."

Jenna cocked her head. "Isaac, our son will be fine. I was talking about having to fight Mia. You know, your friend? Someone who saved your life countless times? Your ex..."

He tensed. "I have no problem with that," he said. It was only a mild lie – fighting Mia wouldn't be difficult for him at all, even if killing her might be. "Anything we had is over and done with. She's chosen her side, and we've chosen ours. If we end up fighting, so be it. I won't hold back. Not for her."

For Isaac, it was very black-and-white. The Tuaparang wanted to take over the world. If you allied with the Tuaparang, that meant you were in favor of global subjugation. If, as in Mia's case, she had merely been corrupted to that point... well, it made little difference. It was unfortunate, but the past didn't matter. It couldn't. Regardless of how many lives she had saved, here and now she had the potential to end many, many more. And that meant she had to be stopped. There was no room for emotion or regret-

"What about bringing her back?" Jenna asked. "Shouldn't we at least try? I'm still feeling sour about everything that's happened. I still feel like it's at least partially her fault. But I don't think the way to resolve our differences is to take her out of the equation. And... I mean, even if you disagree, I'm sure there's still a part of you that wants her back. Not... not in that way, but..."

"...But back as an ally, not an enemy. No, you're right," Isaac said with a sigh. "Garet, Ivan, Mia and I went through a lot together. I almost miss those days, confusing and terrifying as they were. I'd love to have that kind of friendship again. But here's what I think is going to happen.

"Caudgel is immune to psynergy. You, Jenna, tend to rely heavily on psynergy in a fight. That means I'll probably be the one focusing on her, while you go up against Mia. I don't know how the battle will go. If I take out Caudgel quickly, maybe we can try to talk Mia down. Yet if it comes down to it, if I have a chance to strike Mia down to save you, I'll take it. It's barely even a choice. And I hope you won't hesitate to finish her off, either, because you can't expect her to provide you with the same mercy. You saw what she did to Sveta."

"So you're serious, then? You think the tender-hearted Angel of Imil is gone, never to return?" Jenna said. "I'm worried, Isaac. Worried that you're too set in your stance, and that if we get the chance to help her, you'll ignore it, because it isn't worth the risk."

"Lives are at stake, Jenna! I happen to consider your life more valuable than hers, and it would be foolish to forget that I might not get to pick you both!"

"You can stop trying to prove your loyalty, Isaac! That's why we're here in the first place! I'm trying to stop you from making a mistake you'll regret for the rest of your life-"

"And I'm trying to make sure you have a life to live at all-"

_Clap. Clap. Clap._

Jenna and Isaac turned to look at the far doorway, and saw it open wide, a dark-clad, blue-haired figure leaning against the frame.

"You know, if you're really that concerned about personal safety," Mia said, "it might help to pay more attention to your surroundings... and turn down the volume of your shouting matches. I didn't even know you had arrived until you started going at each other."

Isaac's hand went for his weapon, but Jenna gently placed a hand on his arm. Mia didn't seem like she was trying to fight, and it looked like she was alone. No use provoking hostilities just yet.

"Do you really not see the irony of what you're doing?" Mia continued. "You're literally fighting over which one of you is nicer to the other. Can't you ever agree on anything? Can't we all just be friends?" And then, in a conspiratorial faux-whisper, "Isaac, can't you see that she's just not right for you?"

This time it was Jenna's turn to go for her weapon, but Isaac stepped forward and to the left – a move that coincidentally brought him between the two women – and put his hands out to his sides.

"Mia, this is your last chance," he said. "We don't want to fight if you don't. But if you aren't with us, then you're against us, and we'll have to act accordingly."

"I agree!" she shouted, jumping to her feet suddenly. "Nobody needs to fight! Nobody ever! Even if we disagree, it doesn't need to come to blows, it's just the fear of that that sparks conflict, and with His Highness's help, even that fear can be put to rest! Everyone can think the same way. We can all agree, and there will be peace forever! Why can't you see that?"

Isaac narrowed his eyes.

Encouraged by the lack of audible opposition, Mia continued, grinning broadly. "It's totally your thing, too, Isaac! It's absolute, black-and-white, good-and-evil! If you aren't with us, then you're an obstacle on the way to world peace! The Empyror helped me understand that. He can do the same for you, too, if you'll only let him. Join us, Isaac!"

"You need serious help, Mia," Isaac said.

Mia's good cheer vanished in an instant. A wide array of emotions flashed across her face – sadness, regret, apology, anger, fear, confusion, one after another, too fast to track – before she settled on resignation.

"So that's it then," she said. "Did Karst weaken you at all? We knew you'd beat her, but we wanted to make sure you'd be at a disadvantage if we had to fight you afterward." It didn't seem to occur to her that discussing strategy with the enemy was a bad idea.

"We didn't fight Karst," Jenna said. "She was just waiting to make sure we hadn't turned on Felix or anything, and then went to join him. She's on our side, now."

Mia nodded. "The Empyror was right, then. He and Chalis are the only trustworthy Mars Adepts in the world. I can't say I'm surprised, really."

Jenna scowled. "I know how you feel about me, but what about Garet?"

"What about him?"

"He's a Mars Adept, too."

Mia cocked an eyebrow. "What's your point?"

"Don't you think he's trustworthy?"

"Well, _yeah,_" Mia said. "Garet's a friend. He hasn't joined us yet, but I haven't spoken to him-"

"But you just said only the Empyror and Chalis are trustworthy. All other Mars Adepts are enemies, right?" Jenna proposed.

Mia nodded.

"...And yet Garet is a trustworthy Mars Adept, who is certainly not an enemy," Jenna said.

Mia nodded.

There was a long pause.

Mia rolled her eyes. "I don't know what you're getting at, and I don't care," she said. "This is pointless. I'm sorry you can't be reasoned with, Isaac, but I guess that's it." She stepped through the door and beckoned with a finger. "Come along, I'll take you to Caudgel and we can settle this once and for all."

Isaac and Jenna looked at each other uneasily, and then followed cautiously.

* * *

Caudgel palmed her face. "Yes, Mia, OF COURSE I would have ambushed them if you had told me you were going to bring them here. That's sort of the point of hiding inside what amounts to a sprawling maze of books. Now we've lost the defender's advantage, and for what?"

"Well, for fairness, of course!" Mia said, arms crossed. "If you get the first hit in, then suddenly we outnumber them, and that's it. We win. They don't have a chance or anything."

"That's the point! We win immediately, and there's no risk of either of us dying!"

"Too bad! They're here now," Mia responded. "Deal with it."

A short distance away, as they continued to argue, Isaac wrapped his hand around the hilt of his sword. He leaned in toward Jenna.

"Remember the plan," he said. "Don't hold back. Please."

Jenna's response was to calmly place a hand on her own blade. From that hand, she extended three fingers, and counted down.

"I would have dealt with it safely if you had let me," Caudgel spat. "Fairness is useless. Honor's no good to you if you're dead-"

On three, Isaac and Jenna sprung into action simultaneously. Isaac's greatsword came out and over his head, darting toward Caudgel, and Jenna swung her light blade in Mia's direction at the same time as she threw out a weak but distracting Flare.

Caudgel hopped to the side of Isaac's descending blade, pushing against his shoulder as she did so, both to give herself more speed and to throw him slightly off-balance. She landed in a roll and drew her knife in a single, smooth motion, and brought herself up in a defensive stance.

"See? Just like that!" she called out, as if Mia had a chance of hearing her – the other woman had pulled up a defensive ice shield however, and as she lacked a weapon, she was doing her best to force Jenna to keep her distance.

The two pairs of combatants began to separate as the maelstrom of battle forced them in different directions.

* * *

It would be harder for her to fight one of the more physically-oriented opponents, Caudgel knew, but she had faith that she could still defeat any one of the Warriors of Vale in single combat. She had practiced and studied individual strategies for each, and as Isaac approached, she recalled the lessons she had learned about his fighting style.

He was completely self-taught. Vale had never had many true soldiers, so when he and Garet had resolved to strengthen themselves after the first eruption of Mt Aleph, they had needed to improvise. That meant that Isaac's fighting style was full of basic flaws and misplaced assumptions, and years of following the same style successfully meant he would be inflexible.

As for his strengths, he was very quick and very strong. He had an incredible warrior's intuition that arose from natural talent, and he tended to be very, very lucky. But luck only mattered when winning was even a possibility. Caudgel knew how to deal with anything he could throw at her.

Isaac brought his sword up to his shoulder, extending it out beside his face. It was his default battle stance, and it was remarkably inefficient; probably the result of a fifteen-year-old trying his best to look like he knew what he was doing. In any case, it served no defensive purpose whatsoever – he'd never be able to get it into a useful blocking position in time – and it meant it would take another second or two to get the sword into a position to swing it properly.

She feigned an attack, and he pulled his sword in as if to block it. But instead of striking, she hopped backward a single step, deftly spinning-and-flicking her knife back into its disguised form, the form of a simple fan. She batted herself with it idly, situating herself so her body language seemed as unimposing and uninterested as possible. Mind games. She wondered if Isaac would fall for such a blatant taunt.

He did, in a sense, but not in any immediately useful way. He swung his sword out incredibly fast – blindingly, supernaturally fast, faster than anyone Caudgel had ever seen – and if she hadn't been ready for an attack, it would have been the end right there. She made an awkward hop-twist away from the weapon, rather than the calm, perfect step she had been planning, and there was a clatter at her feet instead of the nearly-inaudible clicks that should have come forth.

Isaac stepped back away in the nick of time. Poorly positioned though they were, the spark shurikens she had dropped as part of the trap would have disabled him long enough to get a few serious hits in. Electricity arced between them in a beautiful, if futile dance, before fading out entirely.

"Come on, you can do better than that," Isaac said.

Caudgel nodded. "You have no idea how right you are."

They circled each other for several seconds, ignoring the commotion from where Jenna and Mia were having their bout – psynergy tended to be much flashier than hand-to-hand combat – until Isaac moved to strike again, this time a simple forward thrust, perhaps the only move actually quickened by his stance. This time, Caudgel was able to simply shift her body weight to avoid it.

But then she noticed that his arms were tense in entirely the wrong places. He couldn't be...?

Oh, he was.

The sword tipped and began to cut sideways in a hooklike fashion, already taking advantage of Caudgel's tendency to just-barely dodge his strikes. No normal human would have been able to do that, especially not with a greatsword, but Isaac performed the unorthodox technique with ease thanks to the strength and agility his Djinn afforded him.

Of course, Caudgel saw it coming, and had already ducked under the sword by the time it started moving toward her. In one move, she spun, flicked out the blade of her knife, caught Isaac's upper thigh, and on her way back up, she even managed to graze his right tricep. She took two steps away to avoid the reflexive counterattack that she knew was coming, and returned to a safe stance.

She grinned at him, and he glared at her. He had yet to even touch her, but she had already wounded him in both pride and body. It wouldn't take long for her to completely wear him out this way, she knew, and while she doubted she could safely do any serious damage yet, her combat experience had taught her that when all was said and done, the only strike that mattered was the killing blow.

* * *

Mia and Jenna were much less cerebral in their fighting styles.

The typical pattern went as follows: Jenna would strike with an attack meant to impair or wound, not kill. Mia would dodge or disperse it with ease, summoning pockets of water to put out any resultant fires (it would not do to burn down the archives, after all), and then Mia would strike back with the Mysterious Card, and Jenna would burn or dodge whatever came at her. Then the cycle would repeat.

"Aren't you looking for information?" Mia asked after misting another section of bookshelves. There was no major damage yet, but it would only be so long before something important went up in smoke. "I'm surprised you aren't going to more of an effort to spare the books." She focused her power through the card and sent handful of fireballs the size of apples in Jenna's direction.

Jenna effortlessly redirected them toward the floor, hopped over the small blaze, and flicked out a quick Fume to keep Mia backing up. "Hey, we only have one question that needs to be answered. The other stuff doesn't matter to me." The fume missed its mark, hit another innocent hardcover, and an instant later the collateral damage was splashed out of existence. "What I'm wondering is why _you're_ trying so hard to keep the damage to a minimum."

Mia switched to the Sword Card and sent a blade or two back, which Jenna simply smacked aside with her own weapon. "All you've really seen of the Tuaparang's technology is the harmful stuff," Mia said, "the military stuff. So much of this information can be used to just improve humanity's quality of life! When the world's united in peace under the Empyror, we'll use this to make all our lives easier." Mia dodged the incoming Beam, misted the wall it impacted, and sent off another Sword Card barrage. "You should really just join us. Ever heard of air conditioning? It'll be great in those hot Angaran summers."

The fighting was somewhat less-than-intense, due in part to the fact that they were talking at the same time, and in part to the fact that neither of them really wanted to kill the other, and they both knew it. They happened to be on opposing sides of the conflict, and they happened to have plenty of reasons to dislike – or even hate – each other, right at that moment. So Jenna used fairly low-power versions of her usual attacks, and Mia spent about as much energy fighting as she did putting out fires. If Jenna had gotten into melee range, things might have been different; it's hard to hide the fact that you're holding back when using a weapon. But she wasn't making much of an effort to get that close.

"Look, Mia, I get that you think the Tuaparang are great. I understand some of your reasons. But the Empyror messed with your head," Jenna replied, "and you just aren't the same person you were before. He's a murderer and a psychopath, but he forced you to think he's benign. He really, really isn't!"

"World peace is benign!"

"Not if it can only come through domination! You can't pretend it's true peace if it only exists because people are incapable of fighting," Jenna said. "The technology is nice. It'd be great to be able to just fly an airship wherever I want instead of walking. But if I need to be mind controlled to be able to use it, I'll have to pass on it! It's not worth it!"

Dodge, attack, dodge, attack. "You're being irrational. And I still don't see what you mean by mind control! My mind is my own, I can make my own decisions," Mia said. "You're the one who's still pretending to care about this fight."

"You're fighting too!" Jenna said. Attack, dodge, attack, dodge. "And I'm doing this because I want to stop the Tuaparang, not because Isaac told me to."

"I don't want you to stop the Tuaparang! They don't deserve to be stopped!"

"Mia, just..." Jenna paused. She temporarily broke the chain of combat, holding her sword at the ready, but making no move to use it. "They do. You won't let yourself believe it, but they do. They work against everything you've ever stood for."

There was a pause.

"I want to make the world a better and safer place," Mia said. "The Tuaparang wants to end all conflict. How do those not coincide?"

"Because they don't want to end all conflict. They want to wipe out all dissent. They kill people, Mia. Remember the Eclipse?"

"That... that wasn't..."

"They destroyed Vault, too," Jenna said softly. "My parents were there. They were innocent."

"They couldn't have been!" Mia shouted. "Not if the Empyror wanted them gone. There must have been some crime, something they did..."

"They killed Garet's wife. They killed Sveta's brother. They killed Briggs, Eoleo's father."

"You're lying! It was someone else!"

"Mia, you _know_ all this," Jenna said. "I'm not even telling you anything new. You just won't let yourself make the connections. I know how painful it can be to have your mind changed about something you think you love..."

"B-But Isaac turned out to be really great in the end, didn't he?" Mia said, panicked. "All the stuff you heard about him was wrong. It was wrong! I can't... I... I won't..."

Jenna's eyes softened. "You won't because the Empyror won't let you. He's changed you, Mia, but I know that deep down, you're still there! You helped people once. The idea of causing pain would never have even entered into your head. But tonight, with Sveta..."

"_NO!"_

This time, Mia didn't hold back. She put all of her power through the Mysterious Card, and this time, it happened to be sitting on the Frost effect. A frigid arctic blast shot toward Jenna, knocking her back as she cried out, the attack forming crystals of ice in the air itself and creating thin layers on the floor and the nearby shelves.

Jenna stayed where she landed, wrapping her arms around herself and shivering madly. Little icicles hung from her eyelashes, and frost had formed in her hair.

Mia walked toward her, card still in her hand. She pointed it at the prone Jenna, the threat implied.

"I helped Sveta. I healed her, just like I always do. And maybe I shouldn't have! The Empyror wants me to show no mercy to the beastmen. They don't deserve our peace."

Jenna squirmed in place, slowly positioning herself to get up. "She's a human being, just like us. You healed her, but you hurt her to do it. You never would have done it... you're a good person, Mia..."

"Shut up! I'm still a good person! _You're wrong!_"

Jenna drew herself to her feet with out sudden movements, and sure enough, Mia held back. The card was still held outward as a threat.

"We can help you, Mia," Jenna said. "We'll find a way to free you from his influence. Because if you don't break free, if you don't leave him, you'll have no choice but to kill all of us. Me. Isaac. Garet, Ivan. Matthew, Tyrell, Karis... and Rief."

Mia drew a breath sharply.

She was right. All opponents of Tuaparang had to be destroyed. Maybe she could bring Rief over... but what if she couldn't? Would that mean he was evil? Would he need to be destroyed? But she couldn't. He was a good boy. But if he was against the Tuaparang, then...

Her mind started racing again, spinning and fighting against itself. It was so unfair. It was all wrong.

It was WRONG!

She gave an inarticulate scream and directed her anger at the only thing in sight that she could properly identify as "destroyable."

Jenna shrieked.

* * *

Isaac heard it echoing through the rooms. It was a sound that chilled his heart, his worst-case scenario. Whatever was going on between the other two, it wasn't going well for Jenna.

His own fight was going poorly as well. He was covered in tiny, strategically-placed cuts, while Caudgel didn't even have a scratch on her. It was all he could do to fight through the pain, even though it just got worse and worse when he tried to attack. By this point he was completely on the defensive, but it was like trying to keep oneself dry in a rainstorm, with a frying pan instead of an umbrella and while heavily intoxicated.

The intoxication metaphor was probably the closest to the truth. With all of the damage to his arms and legs, Isaac was about as co-ordinated as a boozehound.

He considered stumbling back to help Jenna, but it was hopeless. His own opponent would take him down in moments if he dropped his guard, meagre though it was by now. But if he stayed, it would only prolong the inevitable.

So he attacked.

It was a wild swing, even more than usual. Slow, sloppy. He knew even as he swung that the attack would never connect.

Caudgel effortlessly sidestepped the attack and smirked.

The next thing Isaac felt was a knife going directly into his kidney, and it was his turn to cry out.

* * *

"Aaaaaghhhh...!"

Jenna heard her husband's shout of pain, and it pierced the shield of her own agony. Mia had given it her all on that last attack – a Thunder card – and the odd, burning numbness that follows electrocution was in every one of Jenna's limbs. She could barely move, and she couldn't tell if it was because of the shock, or because she no longer had the will to.

Isaac had been hurt. Jenna had been hurt. And from the sound of things, neither of them had done a thing to their respective opponents. The battle of good and evil was over, and evil had won. Why bother fighting anymore?

She saw a pair of dark-clad feet moving toward her and waited for the end.

But the feet didn't stop. They kept moving, moving past Jenna and out of her field of vision. The end never came.

With great effort, she turned herself over, and saw Mia still walking – a hesitating stutter-step – toward the source of the shout. One hand was held outward an inch or so, as if she was reaching out to grasp something that she had to convince herself wasn't there.

"...Isaac?" Jenna heard. Mia's voice came out quietly, almost pathetically. "No... but I... I should, but I don't..."

Mia gripped her head in both hands. "This is wrong. It's all wrong. Why... can't..."

Her muttering trailed off into silence. Her hands balled up, and then one shot out and slammed into the bookcase to her right, shaking it loudly and sending several volumes to the floor. Before they even landed, she was moving again, striding down the hallway with deadly purpose.

Jenna forced herself to focus, and to sort through what she had just witnessed. Mia had apparently forgotten about her completely in light of Isaac's interjection, and was heading there now. To assist? Almost certainly. But which side?

Suddenly, the fight no longer seemed decided. Mia was the wild card, and it all depended on how far gone she was; the turmoil and confusion only seemed to fuel her anger, and if she lashed out with her newfound violent tendencies, Isaac and Jenna would be in even more trouble than before. But if they could somehow get her past the tipping point...

It was a ray of hope. And if every other path led into darkness, then there was nothing to lose by following it. Jenna forced her arms and legs to obey her, lifted herself up with the help of the now-nearly-empty shelf nearby, and did her best to shake off the damage. Ignoring the nagging in her limbs, she hurried down the hallway after Mia.

Hopefully she would make it in time to help Isaac... or at least to spend her final moments with him.

* * *

He had experienced worse pain, to be sure. His opponent didn't seem to be fighting to kill, not quite yet; at first she had fought to wear him down, then she was toying with him, and now she seemed to simply enjoy hurting him. Even so, it was nothing compared to being roasted by dragon's breath, it didn't carry the psychological impact of a puncture fracture, and it didn't inspire the same blind fear that the Eclipse had for him, knowing that his son was somewhere out in the middle of it.

But he had never experienced this brand of futility, bleeding from far too many cuts and knowing that the only one who stood a chance of healing him might already have murdered his wife. He didn't feel the darkness closing in yet, but it was on the horizon, and it was starting to look more inviting than it ever had before.

"How does it feel to know you've been bested?" Caudgel asked him, flicking his blood from her knife. "It isn't something I've ever experienced, but I can see it in your eyes. You know you've lost."

He leaned on his greatsword and used it to push himself back up to his feet, but he knew it wouldn't be enough.

"We Warriors of Vale don't go down easy," he said, with a smirk that held more strength than he did in his entire body.

Caudgel rolled her eyes. "Bravado is useless. Less than useless, in fact. If you begged for your life, I might be irritated enough by your whining to give you a quick death. Instead, I will make it painful, just as I intended to in the first place."

As she spoke, Isaac's eyes darted around for something, anything, to use in his favor. Psynergy wouldn't work. There were no windows or doors to try to force her through, even if he had been quick enough to grab her.

"My, my!" she said in mock surprise. "Are you still looking for some stroke of luck to save you today? Just as it has over and over again, nearly every day of your life?" Her eyes flared. "I studied and practiced every day for years, just so I could have the opportunity to beat _one_ of you. The better person won. _To the victor go the spoils._"

She tossed her knife in the air to herself and walked menacingly toward Isaac, her expression nothing short of hungry. It was only the approach of another that brought her to a halt, even if it was only temporary.

Mia stared at the scene, eyes darting back and forth from Isaac to Caudgel. Her hands were held in her chest. A bit of dark soot was the only color her face held.

"You... you won..." she stammered. "I... I mean, are you going to finish him? Should you... should I? The Empyror, he wants..."

Caudgel had no patience for her aimless muttering, and waved it away. "Yes, you're right," she said. "The Empyror wants this one dead. No, you won't gain any extra favor by doing it yourself. As much as I would love to see you tear your old lover apart piece by piece," she dripped, baring fangs, "I'm not an idiot. I don't believe you're capable of doing it right now. If you try, you'll just end up turning on me, and he'll survive again through sheer dumb luck. So I'll do it myself. No need to watch, dear."

Eyes watering, hands twitching, Mia was locked in hesitation. Isaac recognized her look of focus; she knew the intimate details of every wound he had, and she could fix it with a thought. But she was restraining herself.

"Isaac," she said, "You should... you should take your own life, okay?" Mia smiled sickly, her face full of both fear and devotion. "The Empyror wants you to die, and... and I don't want you to suffer..."

Isaac saw a shade of the old Mia for a split second. The one who had healed his wounds, worse than this, atop Venus Lighthouse while fighting Saturos and Menardi. She had comforted him, both as a friend and as a lover, even if the latter relationship was doomed to failure from the outset. And she had done so much more for others. She gave selflessly even when she had nothing left to give. That was what made her special.

The world really would be worse off without her.

"...I'm sorry..." Isaac said to her. _Sorry we couldn't save you._

The dam burst, and Mia brought a hand to her face to wipe away her tears and cover her face. "I know," she sobbed. "I know."

Caudgel shrugged. "You'll forget him eventually."

She brought the knife up.

"_Noooo!_"

A burst of flame came out of nowhere, and Isaac felt the heat even as it dissipated against Caudgel's invisible shield against psynergy. Sparing a casual glance, she identified the source with venom.

"Mia, why didn't you finish her?" Caudgel spat. "That was your job. You weren't to come back until she was dead."

"I, but... but, then, and, she should, but-"

Caudgel silenced her with a glare, then looked Jenna over. The red-haired warrior woman held her light sword in both hands, her stance limp and ungainly, but her eyes aflame. By the looks of it, she was suffering almost as much as Isaac at that moment, but she carried herself as threateningly as possible, if only to make herself as tempting a target as he.

The four of them stood stock-still. Isaac couldn't move without setting his captor into action. Caudgel couldn't strike without leaving herself open. Jenna couldn't act without triggering the trap. And Mia couldn't seem to do anything but mutter and convulse in her own little world.

Caudgel looked from Isaac to Jenna, judging the situation carefully.

Then she jerked her wrist, bringing the knife sharply toward Isaac.

Jenna darted forward.

Caudgel's attack had been a feint.

The knife flashed. Blood splattered. Jenna cried out, clutching one half of her face.

Mia jumped and stared.

Isaac stagger-fell in Jenna's direction, landing on his hands and knees before scrambling to her and shielding her with his damaged body. He had left his sword behind – it was too heavy, even for that short distance – but that no longer mattered to him. A moment of focus told him that she was still alive, even if her shivering and sobbing told him she might not be for long.

The villainous woman wiped the bloody knife on her robe, watching the scene impassively. "That's it? After all this, you really think standing in the way will protect her? You're powerless."

Glaring defiantly – even triumphantly – Isaac shook his head.

"I can buy her time," he said, his breath ragged. "Even if it's only a minute, or even a few seconds, it'd be worth it. Because there's always a way to win, even if it isn't obvious right away, and every moment I give her makes it more likely that she'll find that loose thread and unravel your entire 'perfect' strategy."

"At least you won't live long enough to be disappointed," Caudgel mumbled.

Isaac laughed, an act which brought about a coughing fit. He tasted blood.

"All I can do is hope," he said. "It's all I've ever been able to do, and it's gotten me this far. But I've never had to make it alone. I always had great people behind me, better people than I. Jenna's one of them. We're a team. And that means I'm never giving up on her."

Jenna struggled to move behind him, laughing weakly along with him. She didn't speak.

Caudgel rolled her eyes.

"It was a stupid mistake to even let you talk this long," she said, bringing the knife up again.

The world froze.

And suddenly, there was a high-pitched hum, and a snap, and Caudgel stumbled backward. Her eyes were wide with shock, and when she regained her footing, her hand went straight to her neck.

Her choker was gone.

Mia lay on the ground, the straps that once made up the wretched device sitting just inches from her hand, having fallen when she did.

"...Finish it..." she whispered.

Jenna extended one shaky arm, and three of the four people in the room felt a rush of energy, concentrated into a powerful beam lancing outward. The room was full of blinding light.

And when the smoke cleared, all that remained was a hole in the wall, dripping with molten steel at the edges, and the empty sky beyond, as well as a damaged choker, a smoking pair of high-heeled shoes, and a fallen, bloody knife.

* * *

Drained of her energy in that final act, Mia couldn't heal Isaac and Jenna herself, but when she finally gathered the strength to carry herself again, she crawled over to Isaac and passed all of her Djinn on to him. He hadn't used an ounce of psynergy in his fight, which meant that he could put it all toward saving his own life... and the life of his loved one.

Even if he couldn't sense the nature of the wounds themselves, the potent Wish spell just released pure healing energy that the body made use of on its own; anything that would heal with time, instead healed in an instant.

...But Mia could tell without using her Adept senses that Jenna was never going to be able to use her right eye again. She was lucky to have survived the attack at all, considering how deep it was. Mia cursed herself again and again. If only she had been stronger, or wiser, this could all have been avoided. She should have helped them. But it wasn't her choice.

She could still feel the Empyror's influence at the back of her mind, suppressed though it was. Simple, innocent urges threatened to become full-blown intentions, and she feared that she would lose it at any moment. Isaac and Jenna had each other. But Mia had no one to rely on.

"...I remember it all now," she said. "From that night. It was my fault. I was the weak one."

Isaac looked at her questioningly. Jenna, still on the floor, still weakly clutching the right side of her face, glanced up in confusion.

"What I remember," Mia continued, "is that I had come to Kalay to visit again. It was just like old times, and I was so happy to see Isaac again, because it was always so cold and lonely up north. My husband... I always pretended it wasn't happening, but every time he left on his ship, I knew it was to visit another family, one he thought I didn't know about. I should have said something, I shouldn't have put up with it, but I just needed the companionship... and I would never have put Nowell and Rief through that.

"So I went to visit, and I felt truly happy for the first time in ages. Just seeing old friends made me feel like myself again. It reminded me of better days. When Jenna and I had that argument, and she stormed out, I felt awful... but then Isaac and I got talking, and the emotions just poured forth. Then at some point, I had a very vivid memory of a time when we had been dating, and some part of me just latched onto that and wouldn't let go..."

Now that Mia knew about Chalis and her abilities, it seemed obvious what had really happened. The delusion perfume had given her that vision, and Chalis had tapped into the romantic emotions and amplified them. Mia, being a Mercury Adept, would have been more vulnerable to it.

"The important part, though," she continued, "is that I started it. Yes, I tried to... to rekindle our relationship, say. It seems to me that we each remember one part correctly. I remember starting something. Jenna remembers being rightfully upset. And Isaac... Isaac remembers not reciprocating. The blame's on me, Jenna. It's all on me. You were right to hate me as much as you did."

By now, Jenna and Isaac were mostly healed, and sitting, listening attentively, to Mia's story. But Jenna just shook her head at the last part.

"It's not your fault!" Jenna said. "I didn't know about what was going on... I was mad and confused, and I just wanted to take it out on someone. If... if _those people_ hadn't been involved, I would have come back and talked it over with you, and we'd have been friends again. It's not your fault. It's theirs."

Mia smiled and nodded. "But we're still living with the consequences... what happened happened, no matter whose fault it was. I wish I had been able to fight it. Felix can do it so easily, but I still feel the call..." She stared into empty space for several seconds. "It's irresistibly tempting, Jenna. And what's worse, I never know when I'm falling victim to it, because it just seems so right... Thank you, both of you, for trying to save me. But I can't be saved."

Jenna struggled to her feet. "Nonsense, we just need to-"

"No! Stay back!" Mia said suddenly, tears springing to her eyes. "Please, I can't. I just can't. I don't know what I'll do to you if either of you try to get too close, and I don't know how long until it happens again. Just let me... give me a minute."

She stood and inhaled deeply. She smelled fresh air; Jenna's final attack had literally blown a hole in the side of the archives, and there was a weak breeze coming in. The sky outside was dark, but the only clouds were off in the distance. It seemed so serene, and for the first time in what felt like years, Mia was at peace.

"I hear Nowell is interested in Piers... is that right?" she asked, turning slowly to look at the pair behind her.

Isaac nodded slowly.

Mia smiled. "It seems odd... but it's their choice. If they're both okay with it, then so am I. Tell them they have my blessing. And Rief... well, he met that girl, didn't he? I don't know how serious they are, but if it comes to that..." She sighed. "I wish I had gotten to know her better, then. If he likes her, she's good enough for me, even if she seemed a little bit off. Rief has my blessing too, in whatever decision he makes."

She took a deep breath.

"...Tell my kids I love them, and I'm sorry."

And she stepped off into the night sky.

* * *

As Mia started to fall forward, she thought about all of the things she had done wrong over the years. All of her failures, her mistakes, the times she fell just short of success. Letting Alex's blind ambition go unchecked. Allowing Mercury Lighthouse to be lit, even if it ended up being for the best, once all was said and done.

Isaac came to mind, and she remembered when they met. How they got to know each other, how they grew closer and closer, and Mia, in her youth, thought she had finally found true love, like what the poets write of. How they had gone too far, too fast, and the relationship had smothered itself.

She thought of how it had impacted her later in life, when she found another man, one who entranced her with fancy words and wonderful promises, and how she decided that of course, THIS was true love, and even when his words faded and his promises were proven false, she stuck to it, because she had nothing else.

She wished she had had more time with her children. Nowell was 18, Rief 16, and she felt like she barely knew them. They had grown up overnight. She was so proud of them both, and she wished that she could honestly tell herself that she had helped them become the people they were today.

She allowed herself to feel jealous of all those people who died free of regret.

And then she wondered what would eventually take her life, if there was no land to impact beyond the edge of the planet.

* * *

As Isaac watched Mia step beyond the wall and realized what she intended, he wished he had spent less time convincing himself that she was beyond repair. Jenna had been right, of course, and in the end, Mia was the only reason the two of them were still alive.

So then, why was it that he couldn't repay her? How could he have missed all the warning signs, back then? Imil was her home, but surely he could have visited more often, or... or something. He could have thought harder. He had been foolish.

He dreaded having to tell Rief that he would never see his mother again, because Isaac felt that it her loss was no one's fault but his.

* * *

As Jenna saw Mia start to fall, she didn't think.

She acted.

* * *

Mia felt a snag on her ankle. There was a flutter past her face, and she looked up – down actually, her sense of balance said – and watched the Mysterious Card tumble and dance into the abyss. Why wasn't she following it?

She looked down – up? - and her eyes widened.

"Jenna, no! PLEASE!" she shouted. "Let go! Save yourself!"

The Mars Adept's legs were braced against the sides of the hole, and both arms were wrapped around Mia's left leg. They swung back and forth precipitously as the wind blew them against the outer wall of the flying city, but what held Mia's attention the most was the determination in Jenna's gaze, her one remaining eye locked onto Mia's ankle, the other eye shut and smeared with blood.

"Don't be stupid!" Jenna cried. "You can't just give up like this! Didn't you hear what Isaac said? Being on a team means never giving up on each other, and like it or not, we were on the same team once, too!"

Mia stared in shock. Her blood rushed to her head as she hung there. She couldn't think of a response.

Jenna smiled. "Yeah, see? Not that easy when you can't just jump out a window and end the conversation! Don't worry, Mia, we'll work through this. You, me, Isaac, and all of our friends! Just make sure to wear something nice to Piers and Nowell's wedding."

Then she paused, and pursed her lips. She craned her head to look back up at the hole above them.

"ISAAC!" Jenna shouted. "Will you freaking pull us up already? We can't hang here forever!"

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_yaaay, my favorite part of this is that I never have to type that stupid bloody tuaparang name again  
_

_Be honest, how many of you thought Isaac/Jenna/Mia were gonna croak there? Yeeeeah, that's what I thought. Master of fakeouts, right here! (Jenna's gonna be fiiiine. Who needs binocular vision?)_

_This chapter kind of exploded beyond the original plan for it. I think I mentioned adding a "small fight scene"? Yeah, small. 8k words small. That's why it took more than a day to show up. But it's worth it, right? Look at all those bloody plot threads that got resolved! As usual, tell me if something's confusing or just unclear, and I'll do my best to explain, rewriting bits if necessary to clarify for the future._

_Thursday updates aren't really working for me. It just feels too arbitrary... I don't get particularly more or less work done on Thursdays than any other weekday. So let's try Sunday updates, effective immediately – next update is gonna be this Sunday evening (say midnight), probably a shortish chapter. (I mean it this time.)_

_Oh, and now that you know Mia survives, I'll get to work finishing up that first chapter of Chronicles of the Wardens. The first episode is centered around her, so I didn't want to post it for fear of spoilers._

_Review responses, since I forgot last time:_

_TheTopherRyan: Thanks... I'm always worried about how much attention I give to OCs. People start reading DoJ because they liked Golden Sun, after all, not because they like my ability to design characters. My intention is for my OCs to add to the story, but not to steal the spotlight, and if I've accomplished that, then I'm definitely satisfied. Thanks for reading!_

_JamesK716: *I initially wrote a response to this, but I decided to remove it. I was tired, and I had had a bad few days, and the response I wrote gave entirely the wrong idea. Disregard!*  
_

_Hackshin:__ Yeah... I took some artistic liberties with the Delusion effect. Wikipedia says that a delusion is "a belief held with strong conviction despite superior evidence to the contrary," so I figured it was as good a time as any to make Felix feel convinced that he was living in a flashback. This story's been full of overelaborations on game effects... I should really have just called it Artistic Liberties: The Fanfiction and cut out the middle man._

_godofmadness43:__ People can do some pretty crazy stuff when they're whacked-out on hallucinogens._

_Knight-Dawn:__ "That last part cuts deep"? Really? *facepalm* *puns are the bane of my existence*_

_CreationsGoneAwry:__ You're alive! Yay. Don't worry about keeping up "review duties", life is more important than bloody fanfiction. :D_

_Idixal:__ I'm really glad that effect went over so well. I don't feel like that fight could have comfortably gone any other way, but it was definitely an experiment. Thanks for the kind words, and thanks for reading!_


	67. Time Heals All

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

The quiet void between sleeping and waking slowly faded behind her. She couldn't quite remember what she had been dreaming of; there was a minor inkling of lingering happiness, of comfort, but the specifics eluded her. Those pleasant emotions, combined with the slow swaying she still felt, convinced her that maybe she didn't need to open her eyes quite yet.

A pair of familiar voices from nearby droned on and on, touching on subjects that rung bells, but didn't quite click with her. Tuaparang was one of them. What an odd collection of syllables. It sounded like "boomerang." It was inherently funny. She giggled weakly to herself.

The swaying slowed to a stop, and the tone of the voices changed. She felt herself being moved, and a twinge of pain shot up her back, but it only stirred her slightly. The major temptation was still to continue resting. There was a gentle coolness in the area the pain had come from, and she sensed that she was being laid on a flat surface, but that wasn't sufficient either. It wasn't until one of the words flying by finally made some sort of connection with her that she actually felt any need to awaken.

That word was "Sveta."

Karis opened her eyes.

"Hey, Dad," she said. "Hey, Rief. Umm, what's going on? Where are we?"

The next several minutes were a bit of a blur, with Rief trying to make sure the remnants of her wound were taken care of, and Ivan just generally fussing over her. Both of them took turns explaining what had been going on – the landing, the group splitting up, and the ambush at the hospital.

Ivan apologized for the destruction of her pet-project, but she was just glad it had made it to the city. It wasn't designed with a crash-landing in mind, and since Ivan hadn't had a shred of instruction in its use, they were all lucky he had managed to get that far at all.

But one thing still bothered Karis. "Then Sveta's still at large, isn't she? We've got no idea where she is. She could be in trouble. We have to find her."

"I agree that it's risky to just leave her," Ivan said. "But what can we do? It's a huge city, and she could be anywhere. The safest thing, I think, is to meet up with the others first. We'll tell them what's going on, and if we haven't found the girl by then, we can spread out into search parties. I promise we aren't leaving without her."

Karis nodded hesitantly. He was right. There wasn't really any alternative. Besides, if Sveta really wanted to find someone, she could probably track them with little difficulty. If she was still alright, they'd have no problem gathering her up for the trip home.

But in the back of her mind, Karis worried still, and somehow she knew deep down that her former best friend was fighting for her life at that very moment.

* * *

"Eeek! Stop it!" she cried, batting frantically at her assailant. But it was no use. He had one arm around her waist, and he was in a position that made it difficult for her to apply any real force.

He fended off her attacks with one hand, and then gently nipped her ear.

She melted. She was _helpless._

"Oh, come on," Matthew said. "You know you love it when I do that."

"I admit nothing!" Sveta whined, though by this point her knees had gone sufficiently weak that Matthew was wholly supporting her with one arm. A blush burned on her cheeks. "Regardless, I feel you should really be paying attention to our surroundings. The time and place for this were five minutes prior, in that hidden room..."

Matthew laughed. "I can do both," he said. "And anyway, I do check now and then. We're the only people I can sense at this point. I don't know quite what my range is like, but we're safe right now."

Sveta pulled herself away and straightened out her clothes, trying to salvage what little of her dignity she had left. She folded her arms. "Now is not the time. We would just be _asking_ for a serial killer, or, or a robot or something to show up and attack!"

"A robot?" Matthew asked with a raised eyebrow.

"...Or something!"

It had only been a short while since they had mutually decided to set out, and Sveta wasn't convinced that Matthew had quite shaken the "mood." It seemed at the time like he had, since he was capable of making the rational decision to take her toward the archives rather than where Garet and Tyrell were waiting; he said it would be safer for everyone – meaning safer for her, of course – to stay away from the Empyror until they were ready to attack.

But then he had started doing... well, what he was doing now. And even though they were moving back down the path he had originally taken to get here, and Sveta realized that any trap would already have been sprung, it still embarrassed her to be doing this out in the open, where anyone could see.

"I've gotten most of it out of my system," Matthew said, "but I still want to make sure I don't get it into my head to do anything, y'know... private, in front of everyone. You said Ivan was here, right?"

Sveta's ears twitched. "Right... yes, of course. He is here looking for Karis." _Her._

"Yeah. If we run into him, I guess I just don't want him reading anything... intimate." Matthew shrugged. "Just in case."

Sveta paused, lost in thought. If Ivan had found Karis by now, then he'd have her with him. Once everyone finished what they came to do, they'd start grouping up again, so once he found her, he'd bring her to meet the others...

"Sveta?" Matthew asked. "Are you alright?"

He extended an arm, and she seized it by the wrist, twisted enough to gain leverage, and pinned him to the wall with her other hand.

"Hey, ow!" he shouted. "I was just messing around-"

She loosened her grip slightly, enough that it ceased to hurt, but not enough to sacrifice control. With her other hand, she gently gripped his shoulder and pulled herself in close. She pressed herself against his back – emphasizing her chest – and nuzzled his cheek with hers.

"The more time we waste," she said, "the longer it will take to reach our destination. That means a greater chance we will be attacked, or something will go wrong. And the sooner we get off this stupid flying city..."

She nipped his ear, harder than he had done to her.

"The sooner we can spend some honest time alone." She interrupted herself again, and this time she traced her mouth gently down the side of his neck, kissing him softly just above the shoulder blade. "So I would prefer that we should hurry up. I need us both to get out of here alive, the sooner the better."

She spun him, pressing his back against the wall of the building, and diving in to lock lips for several passionate seconds. She pulled away abruptly the moment he seemed to be getting into it.

"Are we clear?" she asked.

"Crystal," he responded.

"And are you satisfied?"

"Not _remotely._"

"Good," Sveta said, baring her fangs. "Lead on."

And so Matthew did, blushing profusely, though his gait had an odd half-limp motion to it for the first minute and a half of the trip.

Sveta didn't let him stop again until they reached the archives.

* * *

The massive stone building seemed to give off a kind of aura, for Karis. Most of the structures in the city towered above her, to the point where trying to see how tall they were gave her a sense of vertigo; it was difficult to tell where the buildings ended and where the sky began. But this was a different feeling. It was the opposite of imposing – or rather, it was imposing, but in an unusual way. Like having an uncomfortable conversation interrupted by a long-lost friend.

A sort of hush came over the group that Karis savored for as long as she could.

"...What did you say was in the archives again, Dad?" she whispered.

Ivan shrugged. "Isaac and Jenna are probably there by now-"

"No," she interrupted. "What's it for?"

"The archives are where the Tuaparang store all of their vital information," Rief answered. "History, research, stuff collected from espionage, probably. That's the sense I got from Felix."

Knowledge. Karis could feel it from here. So much, and it was practically calling to her... And she would never have had the chance to come here if the Tuaparang hadn't brought her.

"I've never been so happy to have been stabbed in the back," she murmured.

Ivan and Rief walked before her, leading the way through the door, and though she followed them it seemed as though it was merely coincidence that they were going in the same direction. They walked with purpose. She was being drawn.

Books. They were _everywhere._ Shelves and shelves of them, all different shapes and sizes, some old, some new, forming rooms and hallways that had a kind of chaotic order to them, and certainly it was a maze but it was a maze Karis wanted to get lost in for hours-

"Karis? Are you coming, hon?"

She looked up, startled. Her father was looking at her expectantly, Rief just a few steps ahead of him. Glancing down, she realized that she had already pulled a book from one of the shelves and had been leafing through it.

"Yeah, I, umm..." she stammered. "Sorry. Can I just...?"

"I can hear Isaac already," Ivan said. "They're just ahead."

Karis nodded. "Sure, right. I'll be right there. I just..." She paused, looking at the book she held and, perhaps, seeing what it contained for the first time. "Dad. Look at this," she gasped.

Ivan looked at Rief and shrugged, then walked over to see what Karis was trying to show him.

"Look. This equation," she said. "The symbols are different, and I don't know where these numbers are coming from. But I _used_ that. I know it inside and out. It's one of the principles of aerodynamics, my glider only worked because of it..."

She froze, the gears turning in her head. She flipped forward several pages. There it was.

"Blueprints," she said breathlessly. "Dad, this book is about their airships. I can... I mean, I can't yet. I need to study this more. But Dad, I could _build one._ With what's in this book, and maybe a few others, I could take their designs, maybe even improve on them, and..."

She trailed off, and her eyes led her down the seemingly infinite hallway, lined with stacks and stacks of books.

"Karis? Are you feeling alright?" someone said.

She ignored them. "I need a bag," she said. "Do you have a bag? I'm gonna go look for one. Several, in fact. I'll catch up with you later."

Karis set off on her search, stopping every now and then to yank a textbook, notebook, or portfolio off the shelves, leaving Ivan and Rief behind and never looking back.

* * *

Rief couldn't honestly say that he had seen Karis act like that before, but then again, he couldn't honestly say he was surprised either. She was a clever one, and she was always trying to tinker with stuff or experiment. And now she was a kid in a candy store, where the only flavor of candy was delicious science.

It was odd. He had always assumed HE would be considered the geeky one.

Ivan looked worried as Karis hurried away, arms full of books and eyes full of wonder. Rief just shrugged, gave a reassuring "She'll be fine," and led the way deeper into the archives toward the voices.

He heard a voice he recognized very well indeed, and his pace quickened.

And then he came upon a certain group of three, and his grin split his face ear to ear.

"Mom!" he called, and when she turned up to look and gave him her signature serene smile, he felt a comforting warmth spread through him in an instant.

The three of them, Isaac, Jenna and Mia, were seated near a rather large hole in the wall. Rief ignored it, assuming it was some form of battle damage; what concerned him more was the fact that Jenna was wearing a wide strap of cloth over one eye. He cringed. Eyes were really, really complicated, and if the damage was bad enough it might be irreparable. A Mercury Adept could mend bones, restore flesh, and in some severe cases it might be possible to grow an entire limb back, if the patient was assisted in time. Spinal injuries, brain injuries and eye injuries, though... delicate, delicate systems they were, and it was often better to cut one's losses than to attempt a healing process that could end up hurting more than helping.

He hurried over. "What happened?" he asked. "Is there anything I can do?"

Jenna smiled sadly and shook her head. "Thanks, but we're all fine. We ran into Caudgel – Lady McCoy, whatever her name was – and it didn't go as well as we hoped, but luckily your mother chose that moment to come back around. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for her."

Isaac started to speak. "And Mia wouldn't still be here if it wasn't f-"

But Mia silenced him with an uncharacteristically fierce glare, and Isaac trailed off into an uncomfortable, forced silence.

Rief knew there was something he wasn't supposed to be hearing about, but it didn't bother him. That wasn't his biggest concern. "So it's true, then?" he asked. "You're back with us? I heard about what happened..."

"...I think so," Mia said. "I feel terrible about it all. But with some help, I think I can get through it..."

The happy reunion didn't end when Ivan came in; beyond the initial surprise from Isaac and Jenna, who still hadn't known he was even there, the focus was centered entirely on Mia. Ivan thanked her profusely for saving his daughter. Isaac and Jenna described their own fight, emphasizing the conclusive change of heart over the events that led to it.

"Flattered as I am, this isn't what I meant by help!" Mia cried. "I don't need cheering up, I'll just... I'll take things one step at a time. But being around so many people I care about? That's already making me feel optimistic. Thank you."

"Can you really blame us, though?" Rief asked. "I thought you might've been gone forever. I can't imagine that happening. It's too awful to even consider."

Tears came to Mia's eyes. "Awful. Yeah, that's... yeah." She tried wiping them away with the back of her hand, but they continued flowing free a moment later. "Why would I do that to you? I would never... I'm sorry. I promise it'll never happen again."

"I love you, Mom."

"I love you, Rief."

They embraced each other tightly, and Rief could've sworn he heard Jenna muttering something about how she wished Matthew was more like that sometimes.

* * *

Karis did eventually find the bags she was looking for in a far-off cabinet. There were stacks and stacks of them in a box – dark green, they were, and lustrous as anything. She unfolded the top one and tested the strange material. It was more flexible than cloth, yet incredibly firm. When she tugged, there were only the slightest signs of stretching, and when she opened it wide to see how big it was, she realized that she could probably fit almost her entire person in it.

She grabbed four. And then, after a moment of consideration, she just closed the box and placed it in one of the bags. She threw her stack of books in it as well. It was a little heavy, but weight wasn't a concern – there was no way she was leaving without at least a significant portion of the stuff here.

Striding elegantly from shelf to shelf, almost dancing as she moved, she pulled books down with only a glance at the titles and covers. There was strategy in it, of course; the shelves actually seemed to be organized, and she tried to start with the volumes at the "less complicated" end of the spectrum. She had to learn a firm basis, after all. And then she took mental notes on where interesting subjects seemed to be, and when she was fairly certain she had what she needed, she started working on what she _wanted._

Aerodynamics, for those airships. Blueprints too, just to get her started on her own designs. City planning, might as well, Morgal was rebuilding itself after all, and Ayuthay probably had places to go once they ran out of room underground. Indoor irrigation systems? Oh gods, think of what Eoleo could do with that!

She also made certain to grab whatever she could about medical science, knowing that if she didn't understand it immediately, she could probably convince Rief to tutor her a little. And then he could learn it too, of course, and they could spread it around, teaching doctors all over the world, and imagine if every town in the world had a doctor of their own who could perform the miracles in these books alone!

The personal histories were ignored, as were the espionage techniques. Karis didn't give a rat's behind about petty gossip like that. Most of them seemed to be missing from the shelves, anyway...

* * *

Isaac stood and helped Jenna to her feet. His heart still broke a little when he saw the cloth wrapped around her right eye – the cloth had come from the lower brim of his jacket, not that it mattered in the face of the job it was performing now – but as always, she seemed optimistic. She had made a few cracks already about depth perception, and though they made Isaac cringe, it did help defuse the tension somewhat.

At least they were alive. That was what counted for him.

"Okay, head count," he announced. "Jenna and I are here, as are Mia, Rief, Ivan, and... apparently Karis, somewhere around here."

Ivan nodded. "Oh, and Jenna? Felix wanted me to tell you he'll meet you at the palace. We got separated."

"He's headed to the palace? Wonderful!" Jenna said. "So's Karst. She was just outside waiting for us. We have a truce though, at least until the... until _our mutual enemy_ is taken care of." Knowing that Mia was still in the red zone, Jenna apparently decided, as Isaac had, that it would be best not to mention the Empyror by name for the next little while.

Not that Mia was a threat anymore. Isaac still had all of her Mercury Djinn. She had refused to take them back, acknowledging safety hazards if she were to lose it again, and yet the fact that she had made that decision on her own gave Isaac hope.

"Other than that, we've got Matthew somewhere in the city," Isaac continued. "He got separated from us during the trip over here, but I trust that he'll be smart enough not to walk into any obvious ambushes. And Sveta's somewhere here too, and by now, Garet and Tyrell are probably at the palace waiting for us. Am I missing anyone?"

Mia thought for a moment. "Well, there's still..." She gasped. "Oh, right! Rief, your girl's somewhere here too! She followed Karis on the trip over, and now... oh, crap, why didn't this occur to me before-"

Rief palmed his face. "Oh, of course she'd follow us here! Why wouldn't she? I mean, she's just marching into enemy territory, surrounded by people who'd kill her without a second thought-"

"Actually," Mia said, "she managed to talk her way in. Girl apparently has quite the silver tongue. Caudgel put her under her personal protection, not sure how in the world she managed that, but the guards and soldiers were literally under threat of death to keep her alive. Wouldn't be surprised if she's here in the building, actually."

Isaac reached out with his thoughts, sensing the telltale pulse of life over his entire impressive range. Other than his immediate surroundings, there were definitely two people near enough to be in the same building. And one was...

Oh. Of course.

"Yeah, there's somebody sitting very still, literally a room away," Isaac said with a sigh. "No idea how long they've been there, but-"

"_I wasn't eavesdropping! Honest!_" said a voice. "Just, uh... waiting for a chance to pop in."

And naturally, Maddie stuck her head around the corner right at that moment. Her eyes were red and puffy as if she had been crying, and she seemed to be hyperventilating a little. All of this was entirely in keeping with what Isaac knew of her.

"I can go a little further away, I mean, if you like," Maddie stammered. "I don't want to intrude..."

Isaac shrugged. "We weren't really talking about anything privately."

"No, I mean, I... well, I sort of need, I mean want... I'd like to just be alone for a bit," she said. "I kind of want a way out of the city, so... oh, this is so awkward..."

Ivan waved a hand dismissively. "No problem. We'll come get you when we're ready to go, and if you don't want to be involved you can just find someplace-"

"Thanks," Maddie interrupted. "But when I said alone, I... well, I kind of meant..." She fidgeted with her hands. "Rief? Please?"

The boy in question looked at the rest of the group, then nodded, gave Mia a warm pat on the shoulder, and hurried off.

Maddie nodded thanks, and led the way away in a bit of a hurry. It wasn't long before everyone in the room heard loud, echoing sobs, and Isaac decided it was time for a diversion.

"Well, we can come back for them!" he said loudly. "Karis is here too, right? Somewhere else?" He lowered his voice. "...Hopefully out of hearing range?"

Murmurs of agreement followed, and without further ado Isaac checked the surroundings for her location. She was a floor or two above them by this point.

He blinked. The other two people, the ones he had detected earlier... they were in the building now.

They were heading upstairs, one of them very clearly leading the way.

"Guys, there's-" Isaac began, but he didn't need to finish. Because a second later, there was a storm of psynergy, appearing as suddenly and harshly as if somebody had turned on a bright light in a cellar at night, and every person in the room turned their heads toward it simultaneously.

"...Was that her?" Ivan asked.

Isaac narrowed his eyes. "No," he said slowly, "it _wasn't._"

They started heading toward it without another word.

* * *

The scent only became stronger once Sveta entered her beast form. No doubt about it – she had found her quarry.

Bounding up the stairs at a rate faster than any normal human on foot, she pushed her fear aside. It was the fear of a hunter pursuing a particularly vicious prey; it was less a fear, in fact, and more a kind of respect for a creature that was capable of causing her serious harm, and had in fact done so before. She needed to face it, to defy it and defeat it, to ensure that it could never harm her again.

And so it was that she ignored the shouts from below, tearing out of the staircase at unbelievable speed. The scent became incredibly strong, the air was thick with it, and the hunt ended an instant later. Karis flashed into sight, eyes wide as Sveta launched forward. A claw lanced out, picking the other girl up off her feet, and pinning her by the neck to the bookshelf she had been sorting through mere seconds before. Smaller, weaker hands wrapped around Sveta's monstrous fingers and wrist, but to no avail.

The air stilled.

_Just tighten your grip,_ said one part of her mind. _A quick squeeze and it will be all over. She cannot hurt you anymore._

But in another part, Ivan's voice floated to the surface. His own heartbreak became hers in that instant, and the other warring half of Sveta's mind recalled the promise to mend that bridge, or at least to try it.

Her fingers tensed, but did not move. She growled a nonspecific threat.

The beastial fragment continued to push for an end, a final stroke to slay the monster. Images of the nightmare creature that had torn her apart in that cell came to her eyes, laid overtop of reality. She could see the resemblance. This was that being. This was the reason that every gust or stiff breeze sent her heart pumping in anticipation of pain. Yes, Sveta held the embodiment of suffering in her grip.

She looked in Karis's eyes. Those were not a monster's eyes. They were terrified, startled. Regretful. Immensely regretful.

And suddenly, she held not an avatar of pain, but a victim.

The realization shattered Sveta's focus, and she found she could no longer maintain her transformation. The power of the Djinn had not yet run out, but their glow faded without her urging, and she felt herself shrinking to normal, familiar proportions.

Her hand didn't move. This was not over.

"Do you know..." Sveta began, the moment she was capable of human speech, before she had even finished changing. As such, her first words came out in a half-growl, a feral mix of animal fear and human fury. "Do you know what you did to me?"

"Sveta, NO!" she heard from the staircase. "Drop her! This is _not_ the kind of person you have to be!"

She glanced at Matthew, and met his eyes just long enough to let him know she was ignoring him.

"Did you even stop to consider the consequences," she continued, "when you made the decision to proceed with your escape at my expense? I nearly died. I _should have_ died, and the only reason I yet stand before you is sheer good fortune."

Karis struggled where she hung, unable to speak, unable to do anything but squirm.

"My body was healed, though the mending was almost as painful as what made my wounds in the first place. Physically, I am good as new. Perhaps even better. But the scars you gave me go beyond the surface!"

Sveta brought her arm down, bringing her face-to-face with Karis. Finally able to support herself with her legs, and with the grip on her neck loosened, the green-haired girl gasped for air.

The Queen of Morgal leaned in and spoke in a whisper. "Every time the wind blows, I am painfully reminded of my time in that cell. It hurts me even through memory. You are a Jupiter Adept, as am I. Listen to me, and imagine how it feels for me, the feeling of knowing that the air I once cherished as an ally now cuts like a knife!"

Karis stopped struggling. Her eyes snapped open.

"Yes, now you understand," Sveta hissed. "That is what you brought upon me. I can no longer call the wind, for if I tried, I would be its first and greatest victim! _What say you?_"

"...didn't... know..." Karis said weakly. Both her hands were around Sveta's wrist, but they no longer worked to free her. "...so sorry..."

Sveta bared her teeth. "An apology?" she spat. "Is that truly all you can muster?" She raised her free hand, palm open.

But before she could use it to strike her captive, she was knocked aside.

She scrambled to her feet with practiced ease, only to see Matthew standing between her and Karis. His sword was not drawn, but the way he carried himself spoke volumes about his intentions.

"I'm not going to watch you do this," Matthew said. "Karis is my friend, and she was yours too. I have never, ever seen you act like this, and if you could see the way you're behaving I think you'd be utterly horrified."

"This does not concern you," Sveta hissed.

"It does," Matthew retorted. "If it concerns my friends, then it concerns me. Now, I'm sorry about what happened to you. I told you already. If I could do anything to make it better, I swear I would do it in a second. But I won't let you hurt your friends just so you can enjoy some twisted notion of revenge. The Sveta I knew – the Sveta I fell for – wouldn't have done that."

"...Stand aside..."

Matthew and Sveta both froze. Then they looked, as one, toward Karis.

She was on her knees, eyes on the floor, arms across her stomach. She was crying. There were small spots of blood appearing on the back of her dress, where her stitches had torn, but she gave no indication that she cared.

"She's right," Karis said. "I thought I had just hurt her, that was bad enough... It weighed on my conscience like nothing else. But can you imagine it, Matthew, if something similar happened to you? What if the earth stopped coming to your call? What if the feeling of blades of grass between your toes sent you into hysterics?"

"...That would be a tragedy," Matthew said, "but-"

"I could have kept looking for another way," Karis said, "but I didn't. I didn't think. Sveta paid the price for my mistake, not me. Just... step aside. Let her have what she wants. It's the least I can do for her."

Sveta wouldn't speak.

And for once, Matthew was able to say what she could not.

"This," he said, voice full of accusation, "is your monster?"

A low growl rose in Sveta's throat. "Stop that!" she shouted, but at Karis, not Matthew. "Stop being a victim, stop being so kind! Be the creature again!" She stepped forward, breathing frantically. "Be the... the dread I could not fight! Tower over me again, stare me down, send me cowering into the corner!"

Sveta sank to her knees, sobbing gently. "...Let me face my fear..." she said. "Let me fight the monster that did this to me, let me overcome what overcame me... I can't overcome a friend..."

Distantly, she – and Matthew as well, as he turned to look – heard the clatter of footsteps coming up the staircase. But Sveta was miles away. Months away.

She was back on the ship they had used to flee Belinsk, on the eve of the Eclipse. The footsteps, the clanking of weapons, the worried voices, they all faded into the clamor that rose from her city, carried out over the sea, the chaos spawned from the catastrophe.

Sveta had just watched Volechek step back into the darkness after giving her a fighting chance against that which threatened their people. She would never speak to him again. At the time, she didn't even know if he would make it out alive. In a sense, he wouldn't. He was already doomed.

She was so alone. The ship rocked beneath her, and the sky was hidden behind artificial shadow. She was surrounded by friends, to be sure, but they knew her as Friend Sveta. As they left Belinsk and Volechek behind, she was Princess Sveta and nothing more.

But through the darkness, both figurative and literal, came a comforting hand. When she turned, she did not know who she expected to see. But it was Karis standing there, hand on Sveta's shoulder. She understood. Her eyes spoke to her, and they said _I can't carry this burden, but I'll share the load if you'll let me._

Those were the eyes glued to the floor, just a few feet away. That was whom Sveta had, in her passion, nearly tried to destroy.

"...Please forgive me..." Sveta whispered. "You are not the monster here. I am."

Cautiously, slowly, so as to not imply even a hint of hostility, Sveta crawled to her doleful companion. Karis looked up, and their eyes met. Sveta tried her best to communicate what she felt in that simple glance. Whether the full impact was received or not, Karis made no move to stop, and when Sveta put her arms around her friend, she didn't flinch.

After what felt like a lifetime, Karis gently returned the embrace.

"You did nothing wrong," Sveta said. "Your actions... cost me. But it was not your fault. You did not intend harm. I acted with malice, and that is what was reprehensible."

Karis shook her head. "You were just trying to defend yourself. You were wronged, and you tried to fight back. I was careless..."

They wept gently in each other's arms. Sveta felt a slight wetness in her one hand, and finally noticed Karis's wounds. They were not bleeding badly, but the fur on her hand was stained red.

"Oh gods, I hurt you!" she said. "Oh, I was such an idiot... I will understand if you hold it against me-"

"Don't forget, your blood was on my hands too. I still feel awful, but if you want to consider us square..."

Sveta giggle-sobbed, and shook her head. "I have no idea what that means. This is not the time for geometry... but I forgive you, and I hope you can forgive me."

"Deal."

They remained ignorant of the crowd they had drawn for almost a full minute before Ivan sneezed. Then the moment was lost. But it was fun while it lasted.

* * *

By that point, Rief was really, really starting to worry about that massive pulse of psynergy he had felt earlier. He knew he had to be there for Maddie – not even because there might, maybe, have been something between them, but because it was the right thing to do – but all she had done was cry and mutter incomprehensibly for about ten solid minutes. His shoulder was soaking wet, and he was worried that something tragic, groundbreaking, and/or wrought with emotional closure was going on without him. But what could he do?

"Look, I'm sorry this happened to you," he said, uncertain if she was even listening. "You got stuck with the bad guys for a bit. I'm sure that must have been awful. But at least you're alive, and you aren't hurt, right?"

"Awful," she muttered wetly. Or, well, she said something like it, maybe. Rief was only hearing every other word, muffled as it was by his own shoulder. "...So awful..." she said, and then, "...Can't tell you, 'cuz you'll hate me..."

"Wait, what?" Rief pulled Maddie off his shoulder, and looked her square in the eyes. "Why would I hate you? I'd never hate you. Come on, talk to me."

She shook her head, scattering tears like raindrops. "No, can't, you don't know... you just don't..."

"Well, duh! Of course I don't!" he said. "That's why I'm asking! Here, just tell me what's bothering you. I promise I won't freak out, and I promise I won't hate you."

"...Don't promise that, 'cuz you _will..._"

" 'Kay, you know what? No promises!" Rief shouted, exasperated. "I'm trying to help, missy, and if you won't tell me what's wrong, I can't do that!"

"...No one can help, it's all... it's..."

He threw his hands into the air. "Fine. Want me to go grab Ivan? He'll read you, and then-"

"NO!" Maddie shouted, throwing herself back against him. "Please, pleasepleaseplease..."

She was a little more panicked than Rief had expected. And honestly, that said something.

"Alright, fine," he said. "I didn't mean to threaten you. I won't call Ivan. I won't even tell him anything's wrong, if you don't want me to. You don't need to talk if you're afraid of what will happen, okay?"

"...okay..."

"But if you talk, I'll listen," he said with gentle encouragement. "It won't be as bad as you fear, and sometimes it just helps to get it out of your system, y'know?"

She nodded into his shoulder – the other one, this time, just to balance out the wetness. She was silent for a little while, but when he was about to give up, she spoke.

"I... I convinced her to let me go with them," she said. "I promised to give her Bilibin again, said she could use me like a puppet to rule... I pretended to be evil, like her, and she believed me, and I couldn't understand why, until-"

"You mean Lady McCoy?" Rief asked. "Right, because she had just been kicked out. Good thinking, actually."

"But then I got here!" Maddie continued. "And they were all, and she was, and then..." She hiccuped, swallowed, and took several slow breaths. "She kept telling me things to watch out for, and that she didn't want the Empyror to talk to me, because then he'd make me like Mia, and I was so scared..."

"Did he get to you?" Rief asked.

Maddie shook her head furiously. "Sh-she put a guard in my room, to make sure I wouldn't escape, but also to make sure nobody hurt me... and I thought she just wanted to protect me, because I was going to be her puppet, and I didn't want to be, so I had to escape, and I took the knife she gave me, and I..."

_Oh. Taking a life. That can be... yeah._ "I'm sorry you had to do that," he said. "I don't hate you for that, though, never! It was you or him-"

"...Not done..."

Uh oh.

"She brought me here," Maddie continued. "Said it was for my own protection, and maybe it was, because... because she knew, then, and she wanted to protect me because I was more than a puppet to her..."

"What did she know?" Rief asked. "...Is that what you're afraid to tell me?"

She didn't answer immediately. She squeezed him tightly, and let the silence reign.

"...Just wanna enjoy this," she said, "while it lasts." She squeezed again, and then pulled away.

She reached for a pile of folders. There didn't seem to be any kind of serious organization, but Maddie didn't even need to open them to find the one she wanted; she just grabbed one, one that didn't have any distinguishing marks that Rief could see, held it against her chest with trepidation, and then opened it, flipped through it, and settled her finger on a certain page.

She shut her eyes tightly, and passed it over to Rief.

"Lady McCoy's personal information file?" he asked. "What's so special about this?"

Maddie sat against the wall and let out a strangled sob, face in her hands.

Rief scanned through the documents for about half a minute without finding anything useful.

"I don't get it," he said. "What's so special about-" And then he found it. "Oh. Oh, shit. I... yeah, okay, I can see why you'd be worried about this."

"I hate her, I hate her, I hate her!" Maddie said. "I hate her, but... but she said, she said she'd tell me everything when she came back... and now she's never coming back..."

"First of all," Rief said, moving to sit beside her, "I don't hate you. Let's just get that out there. Just because you might have certain, uh, quirks of ancestry, doesn't influence what I think about you. Your genes haven't just changed overnight. If you were going to turn out evil, you would have already."

"But... but it's a good thing she's gone, since it means Isaac and the others are safe..." Maddie mumbled, "and even then, I almost wish she was still alive, because... because maybe there was more to her, there had to be some good in there. She wanted to keep me safe, even though she left me alone, all those years ago..."

"I know. It isn't fair," Rief said. "What she did to you wasn't right. You know that as well as I do. I think... I think she must have regretted it, in the end, if she tried to protect you from the Empyror. Even though she was on the wrong side, and even though she caused us all so much pain, no one deserves to go through the pain of losing family."

Maddie nodded.

"I'm sorry that you've had to go through that so many times in just a few days. First you thought you were an orphan... then you thought you weren't. And now you're back where you started. But you aren't alone. Your parents – your real parents, the ones who raised you and cared for you – are still with you in spirit."

She sniffled. "...I miss them so much..."

Rief put his arm around her and pulled her close. "I know. I'm sorry. But I'm here for you too, for what it's worth!"

"It's worth a lot," Maddie said with a feeble, snorting laugh. "I'm glad we're not related."

Rief laughed.

"No, I checked to make sure," Maddie clarified. "Your mom's got a file here too. There's all sorts of stuff, but I made sure we weren't related."

Rief didn't laugh.

"It's probably best if you don't see the file. Some secrets are best left secret," Maddie said.

Rief raised an eyebrow. "...I'm still not sure why you'd think we might have been related...?"

"Hey, you never know."

Rief shrugged. At least she had stopped crying.

* * *

When they all gathered again in the archives, they discussed everyone's next course of action. There was some disagreement over minor points, but overall it seemed quite clear.

Karis wanted to stay and continue gathering information. Maddie couldn't go to fight the Empyror, and she needed an escort back to the docking bay when they all made their exit. So Rief agreed to stay behind with both of them, keeping an eye on the civilian until Karis had everything she needed, and then the three would head back, try to find an airship or some other means of escape, and wait for further instructions.

The rest of the group – Isaac, Jenna, Ivan, Mia, Matthew, and Sveta – would go back to the palace for the final showdown with the Empyror. When the time came to fight, Mia would stay back to avoid risking indoctrination, but she would remain on hand in case anyone was injured.

Including Garet, Tyrell, Felix and Karst, they outnumbered the Empyror ten to one.

It would be easy.

* * *

"You know," Tyrell said, "I probably wouldn't have agreed to come straight here if I knew we'd be waiting so damn long."

Garet nodded. "I know I'm supposed to have some wise words or something, since I'm older, but I'm actually bored out of my skull." He glanced around quickly. "I hope we're in the right place. Wouldn't it suck if the other guys were here already, and they were wondering where WE were?"

But Tyrell just gestured at the massive pair of double-doors they sat before. They were at the top of a massive staircase, there were torches (well, torch-equivalents... some form of artificial light) ominously lighting the walls... "Dad, these are boss doors," Tyrell said. "You've seen enough to know it. Whatever's behind this door, if it isn't the Empyror, it's still something world-threatening."

"Yeah, probably. Still, you gotta wonder-"

_CREEEEEEAAAAAAK._

"What's all the commotion out-"

Pause.

Tyrell and Garet turned as one.

There was a bald, horned head poking through the double doors.

They stared at each other.

The head retreated, and the doors creaked once more before slamming shut.

Father and son looked at each other.

"That was him, wasn't it?" Tyrell asked.

"Hell if I know," said Garet. "Probably."

They scrambled to their feet, lifted their weapons, and simultaneously decided it would be best if they didn't give him any more time to prepare.

They kicked in the doors.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_(I was tempted to title this chapter The Grave Ellipse. Crap, that dialog has more "..." than a late 90s Final Fantasy.)_

_An interesting thing I noticed..._

_Kyle - Dora, Earth_

_Isaac - Jenna, Fire_

_Matthew - Sveta (or Karis), Wind_

_All I know is that Matthew's kid has to end up with a Mercury Adept because that way it completes the Avatar cycle._

_Anyway, sorry for the late update. I'm not going to make estimates on chapter length anymore. This isn't my longest, technically... but I wrote and re-wrote every section about three times, on average, which means you can take the word count (almost 8k) and probably triple it to see how much I actually had to write to get this done. I'm STILL not satisfied, but posting it now is better than leaving you guys hanging for yet another day beyond my deadline._

_On a related note, I highly recommend going to check out the Avengers movie, AND Cabin in the Woods. Joss Whedon needs to direct everything, ever. And who else here thinks Chris Hemsworth would make an awesome Isaac in a Golden Sun movie? Felicia Day can play Jenna, not because I think she particularly looks the part but because she has red hair and because I could totally see her with Chris Hemsworth. _

_Next update should be Sunday at midnight. I'll get to work a little earlier on it this time, just in case. Don't wait up._

_Not doing review responses tonight because I'm really tired from 3 straight days of writing mixed with work. I really appreciate every single review, though!_

_Actually, a few quick things:_

_Hackshin: "Those people" are the Tuaparang. _

_CreationsGoneAwry: The morning of the current "day" in-story actually started in Chapter 14. So, way more than 10 chapters._

_thanks agaiiiin everyone_


	68. Wildfire

**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**

* * *

Perhaps it would have been a better idea to wait for the others to arrive.

...Perhaps.

But when dealing with a megalomaniac with godlike powers, unfathomable technology, and no moral fibre, one needed every advantage one could get. The element of surprise had been lost, but Garet and Tyrell sure as hell weren't going to let the Empyror spend time preparing himself for a fight.

The throne room was shaped beautifully for a climactic confrontation. Yes, there was plenty of ornamentation, and yes, most of it was superfluous, but at least it was out of the way. Aside from the matte black pillars and the throne itself, there was next to nothing in the cavernous chamber to get in the way.

The man himself looked somewhat dishevelled, as if he has just woken up; his clothes were wrinkled and he had bags under his eyes, but he appeared as alert as could be expected. Adrenaline did that to a person.

"So it's come to this, then?" asked the Empyror. "You assault my city, kill my people, and lay siege to my palace. And you consider yourselves heroes!"

"This really, _really_ wasn't as unprovoked as you're pretending!" said Garet.

"How so?" the god-king asked. "You mean the Eclipse? That wasn't directed against you, and it clearly didn't pose you much of a threat."

"It threatened innocent people who couldn't protect themselves," responded Tyrell, "and anyway, you've been messing with us for years! How could you possibly justify that?"

"I justify it by pointing out your crime of existing when I did not will it," the Empyror responded. "You were in the way of Tuaparang's glorious future. It was only logical to take steps to remove you."

"Well, the joke's on you!" said Garet. "It didn't work. It's just us here for now. Maybe we can take you alone, maybe not. But you've only got a few minutes until the others get here, and then that'll be that."

"Is that so?" asked the Empyror. He cracked his knuckles beneath his high-tech gauntlets, the many miniscule gems and lights beginning to glow. "I'm sorry to say that _you_ have even less time than that."

There was an explosion of psynergy and a massive fireball shot toward Garet and Tyrell. They barely managed to react in time, channelling their own energy to redirect it to either side. The tapestries on the walls caught fire, and the intense heat distorted the air. Through the haze, the two of them saw the Empyror draw his weapon and charge into the fray. A pair of axes came forth in response, and battle was joined.

Momentum is key to fighting with an axe, and both Garet and Tyrell knew this from years of experience. It meant that once the two of them got started, they would be very, very difficult to stop. The downside, however, was that neither was particularly prepared to fend off an attack. So rather than taking the defensive and preparing to repel the Empyror's charge, the two of them moved forward and took the fight to him.

Garet swung first, forcing the Empyror to hop to the side and interrupting the sword slash that would otherwise have come. Tyrell struck second, and this time the Empyror had to stop to block it; the sword came up as the axe came down, and even though the Empyror's strength was djinn-enhanced further than Tyrell, he still lurched under the blow. His gauntlets glowed again, and a radial burst of heat blew out from around him, forcing Garet and Tyrell back several steps.

Tyrell retaliated with a quick fireball – small, but as big as he could muster in so short a timeframe – and charged forward again. The Empyror's sword flashed out and cut the fireball in half, a normally reflexive and foolish move that happened to work due to the nature of the blade and of the fireball. The fire vanished as if it had never been, the sword glowed faintly for an instant, and the Empyror carried the momentum through into a spinning dodge with a built-in kick component. Tyrell took the hit in the stomach, all the harder because of his own forward movement, and fell to his hands and knees, winded.

Before the Empyror could finish the job, Garet moved in and swung his own axe, not for effect, but to threaten his opponent's exposed flank. It meant that instead of striking downward with the sword, which would have been the end of Tyrell, the Empyror had to bring it horizontally across to defend. Even then, the sword came close enough that its drain effect came into play to a slight degree. As Garet fought to bring the fight away from his son, Tyrell stumbled to his feet, only to find that he was somewhat less surefooted than he had been a minute prior.

Without backup, and without any effective psynergy, Garet found that it was impossible to stand toe-to-toe with the Empyror. Fending off a barrage of enhanced sword strokes mixed in with maximized blasts of psynergy – several of which Garet had never even seen before – would have been difficult enough with an entire team behind him. But fighting one-on-one, on the enemy's turf, while trying to guide the fight away from his staggered son was all too much to handle. Garet was steadily forced back, and he felt his arms tiring.

Tyrell would be back in the fight shortly, but two against one didn't seem like enough. Without more help, there was no way they could win.

* * *

Exhausted, furious, and using the shaft of her scythe more and more as an odd sort of walking stick, Karst spat a curse against all staircases that ever existed. She was finally getting used to moving under her own power again, but she still needed to go at a snail's pace to avoid falling down and having to restart all over again.

Still, she was Proxian. The rule of Prox was to overcome at any cost. She saw the massive set of double doors at the top of this final flight. The sight gave her hope, and motivation enough to burn her fury into energy. Of all the horrors the Empyror had made her suffer through, this awful staircase was far from the greatest, but hey, it was another reason for revenge.

The sound of combat reached her ears. The echoes of psynergy passed through her, spurring her forward. She did not come all this way to have someone else steal her kill.

Years ago, she might have kicked down the door. Today, she decided it would be easier – and more evocative – to simply blow it up.

There were three people in the room, and they had clearly been fighting a moment before. But even in combat, one doesn't easily ignore when somebody blows up the Boss Doors. Karst recognized the Empyror immediately, took note of his gauntlets and sword, and planned accordingly. Next to him was a familiar face, though it was a few seconds before she recognized him as one of Isaac's crew. The boy some distance away must have been his son.

She waited for the dust to settle, and let the silence stretch out painfully. She savored it.

"High Empyror!" she called out, clear as a tolling bell. "We have unfinished business!"

The Empyror stepped back from Isaac's teammate – Garet, was it? - and lowered his sword.

"So we do," he said. "Nice to see you back on your feet. Are you sure you wouldn't like to exact some revenge on these two first?"

Karst shook her head. She met Garet's eyes. "Truce?" she said dismissively.

Garet shrugged and nodded.

With a frown, the Empyror sighed. "I figured something like this would happen. I probably shouldn't have even given you your legs back. Gratitude is a foreign concept to you, isn't it?"

Then, in a flash, he reached behind his back with one arm and pulled out a small remote control with a single large, red button on it.

"Always have a Plan B!" he shouted with a manic smile. He pressed the button and threw his arms across his face to shield himself.

Nothing happened.

He lowered his arms. "You were, uh," he muttered, "supposed to explode a little bit." He pressed the button a few more times to make sure, and then discarded it.

Karst made a mental note to thank Jenna later. Maybe. She corrected herself; she should ask Felix to thank Jenna for her. No need to go crazy.

"Are you done?" Karst asked.

The Empyror grinned. "Not even close!"

He raised his empty hand and the gauntlet glowed fiercely. Karst felt an incredible amount of psynergy pouring out of him. The light in the room seemed to grow more intense. The shadows all began to fade. She felt the hairs stand up on the back of her neck...

She focused, sent a burst of power into a small area somewhat behind the Empyror, and dodged at the same time.

The ensuing explosion didn't completely disrupt the Empyror's spell, but it knocked him off his feet and made it impossible for him to aim. A solid pillar of heat and light struck the area Karst had been standing in, and she felt prickles all over her skin despite being outside the blast radius.

Garet had been too close to the explosion to keep his feet. He stumbled and fell back, and while he collected himself almost immediately, he wasn't up in time to take advantage of the Empyror's lapse in focus.

Karst clanked forward, holding her scythe at the ready, knowing full well that if she tried to fight as she once had, she'd make a fool – and a corpse – of herself. Her once-legendary speed had deserted her, but her focus and spellpower had not. And it seemed that the other two men – her temporary allies – hadn't been bright enough to use the aftereffects of psynergy, not psynergy itself, to circumvent the Empyror's defences.

She cast out the strongest Aura that she was capable of, directed only at herself, Garet, and Garet's son. The raw heat and emotion pushed their fighting spirits into high gear, and the adrenaline rush washed the fatigue from their bodies.

"What are you waiting for?" she said to them. "_Go._"

She let out another burst of heat near the Empyror, focusing on making the air around it rapidly expand; the blastwave didn't do much damage, but it kept him off-balance, and it was all she could do from where she stood. He tried to retaliate with flames of his own, but Karst channelled her own strength to push them right back at him. He was forced to bring up his sword to disperse it, buying Garet a moment to press the attack.

Now that he was on the offensive, the axe-wielding Adept was much more in his element. Several deft strikes set the Empyror on his heels. Psynergy was employed defensively, but Garet deflected all of the Mars attacks, and when Karst felt anything stronger building up, she would use another explosion to distract the Empyror, making the hit ineffective. It wasn't long before Tyrell got involved as well, and while Garet would have lost his advantage quickly in a one-on-one fight, the two of them together managed to maintain the upper hand.

The Empyror was pushed back almost immediately, and attempted to compensate by throwing out as much psynergy as possible. Pillars of light appeared rapidly, scorching and scarring anything they touched. Karst kept up her disruption attempts, and the Empyror did not seem particularly concerned with aiming, so most of the pillars went wild, but there were several close calls.

What bothered Karst about it was the sheer volume of psynergy that was being put out. She had no idea how difficult it was to cast those kinds of spells, but she could feel the force he was bringing to bear, and it seemed to her that that amount of energy was not to be used frivolously. Either the Empyror had a nigh-limitless pool of psynergy to draw upon, or he was an absolute moron at managing it.

Perhaps both.

Tyrell swung his axe. The Empyror blocked, pushing back and hopping away, casting another pillar vaguely in his opponent's direction. Karst detonated another nearby patch of ground, forcing the Empyror to shield himself from the blastwave and giving Garet a chance to move in. Garet made two quick hits, both of which the Empyror parried.

When Tyrell moved in to assist, things got a little surreal.

First, there was a flash of bright light, and an utterly monstrous wave of psynergy. Out of reflex, Karst fired off another blast to distract, but then she realized that the source wasn't the Empyror... not exactly. The blast shook Garet more than the already-defending Empyror, and Tyrell was forced to attack, pushing the Empyror away from Garet.

Right then, the light faded, and there was another Empyror standing nearby.

The newcomer was on the move already when Karst spotted him. To the casual eye, he might have appeared nearly identical; to a seasoned Proxian warrior, however, he was not only clearly exhausted, but lightly favoring his left leg.

"Garet! Eyes up!" Karst shouted. Hefting her scythe, she began to slowly proceed toward the fight. Her impromptu allies couldn't hope to win a two-on-two, even with her providing ranged support.

Garet turned, saw his assailant, and skipped aside from a wild, weak swing. The axe swung in retaliation, and the new Empyror blocked it with a loud clang.

The original Empyror – the one who had been present for the entire fight – seemed to notice the newcomer for the first time at that point, and he raised an eyebrow in question.

"Dodge, idiot!" shouted the new Empyror.

The old Empyror seemed to snap out of it at that point, spotting Tyrell coming in for a leg-sweep just a split-second before it struck. He avoided the brunt of it, but there was a fresh tear in his black robes that was almost unnoticeable if one wasn't looking for it.

That was when it clicked for Karst.

"Time travel?" she shouted. "They're the same person! The new one's just the old one, skipped back in time!" She hadn't known it was possible. It shouldn't have been possible. And if he could do it all along, why hadn't he done it already? Why weren't they fighting _ten_ of him, if he could be in multiple places at once?

She remembered the flash of light that accompanied the future-Empyror's appearance, and the accompanying psynergy rush. She watched the newcomer's slightly slumped shoulders, noticed the lethargy he moved with. It had taken a lot out of him, and he knew it would, and it wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been desperate.

She bore her fangs. She smelled blood.

"How long?" called out present-Empyror, fighting to give himself space against Tyrell.

"About twenty seconds from now, I figure," replied future-Empyror, struggling to keep an advantage against Garet.

Present-Empyror kicked out, knocking Tyrell back a step, then moved against Garet, who spun to block. Future-Empyror struck out as well, but Garet moved aside, using his momentum to try for another hit on Present-Empyror.

Tyrell moved in at the same time, swinging his axe in tandem with his father's. Their target, the present-Empyror, brought up his weapon in time to parry, but was knocked back from the combined power of the Warrior and Child of Vale. Before they could pursue, psynergy poured from present-Empyror and a pillar of light scorched the ground between them.

"Stop!" called future-Empyror. "Save your energy!"

"Or what?" asked Karst, whispering in his ear. "You'll tire yourself out?"

She planted her feet, and pushed with the handle of her scythe. Her quarry sprawled on the floor, but did not drop his sword.

"Leave the other guy!" called Karst to Garet and Tyrell. "He'll be gone in a second anyway."

The future-Empyror, lying on the ground, scrambled to his feet, wincing in pain from the cut on his right leg, and nodded to his companion.

Present-Empyror gritted his teeth and spat out a curse, and his gauntlets glowed with an eerie light. It occurred to Karst that he was standing in more or less the same location that the newcomer had arrived from. Time travel apparently did not extend to changing location.

There was a flash, and the only Empyror who remained was the tired-looking one Karst had knocked over. She smirked. That simplified things.

"What now?" she asked.

He bolted toward the hole that used to be a doorway.

Garet and Tyrell pursued him. Karst didn't trust her balance enough to go with them, but she detonated the ground directly ahead of the Empyror to stop him anyway.

He was knocked back off his feet, and as he landed, he threw out another radial burst of heat. Garet slowed but stayed the course, and Tyrell rushed by to cut off the Empyror's escape, standing in the doorway with his axe at the ready.

The Empyror staggered to his feet, brought up his sword, and blocked Garet's first swing. The second swing knocked the sword out of the way.

The third swing came down, and Karst frowned. It really would have made more sense for her to be the one making that attack.

There was a flash of light.

* * *

_**You useless, wretched human,**_ said Halo in the Empyror's mind. **_Running from a fight? What of your promises of power? A coward doesn't deserve the boons I grant._**

"Your 'boons' weren't enough to fight off _three of the world's strongest warriors!_" retorted the Empyror. "It falls to me to bring yet another backup plan into play. If I hadn't been so well-prepared, where would you be?"

_**If I had not stopped time and allowed you to escape, where would **_**you****_ be?_**

The Empyror was silent as he sailed down steps, hurried through hallways and dashed through doors.

_**You have but one more chance,**_ said the Sol Djinni. **_Fail me again, and I will be very, very disappointed._**

_You're not my boss,_ thought the Empyror. _I don't serve you._ But he still felt a chill of fear. He had no other Djinn. If this one left, he would be nothing.

He didn't even have a weapon. After all, he hadn't been able to waste time pulling his sword back out of that one guy he'd had a chance to take down.

* * *

It took a moment for Karst's vision to come back. She had been looking directly at the Empyror when the light had flashed, and she was still feeling a little dazed. At least she had been able to remain standing, as far as she could tell.

Garet hadn't. Whatever that spell was – a stunning spell, maybe? - it had brought the man to his knees, and though Karst's vision was still swimming and she was seeing spots, it looked as though he was having trouble getting up.

The boy did not seem to have been effected quite so strongly, and he ran to his father's aid shouting something Karst could not quite sort out. He seemed... panicked.

Garet collapsed, and as he fell, Karst's vision finally started to come into focus, and for the first time she noticed an odd spike that protruded from his back, one that simultaneously glowed a brilliant purple and drained all light that touched it.

"Oh," she said. "Um."

"Do something!" Tyrell shouted. "Help! _Please!_"

"But, it shouldn't... I mean, somebody else can..."

She couldn't form a coherent response. Hell, she could barely form a coherent opinion. Years ago, she'd have celebrated. Years ago, she might have been the one to _do_ it. Now, seeing his son crying over him, she saw things in a slightly different light, and she was having trouble reconciling the two perspectives.

"I'll go find someone to help," she said quietly. Maybe she would, maybe she wouldn't. But what she really wanted to do was get out, and let someone who knew their position on the matter do what needed to be done.

She walked out the ruined door and slowly started down the stairs, trying her best to block out the panic behind her.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Sorry it's been so long since I last updated, but I kinda lost my job, and most of my free time for the last little while has been spent looking for a new one. Then I found my new job and I've been coming home too exhausted to do anything useful at all. Whenever I wrote in the past, I found it easiest to just sit down and do nothing but write for several hours straight, and that's no longer an option... but I'm practicing doing what I can every time I have 15 minutes or so free, and I'm getting better. Next chapter will arrive in less than 3 months! My goal's one week._

_(the following has little to do with the story and there are no review responses, so be aware that today's author's notes may be a colossal waste of time)_

_I also started writing a short Karis-centric story (not DoJ universe) called The Other Curse. I'm not super-proud of it, not like a few other stories I've bumped in the past (coughmadqueencough), but it's been an experiment, and the learning process has been helpful. Part 1 is short but it's online, part 2 is much longer, much more event-driven, much more poignant, and much less complete. I'll finish it up when I can, and chances are I'll eventually combine both parts into a single chapter for readability._

_Finally, I'm considering branching out a little from Golden Sun stories in the near future. I have a Legend of Zelda fic planned, and a few League of Legends concepts that I feel like experimenting with. I have Chapter 1 of Chronicles of the Wardens mostly finished, but I did some further planning and it needs heavy rewrites. It'll be done when it's done, hopefully soon because it's a setting I'm really excited to deal with._

_...That's what's going on with me, in case you cared! Not that I'm assuming you did or anything. I mean, if you didn't, I'm not sure why you're still reading. Are you hoping for a secret message? Perhaps a Happy Birthday or something? Well, if it's your birthday, then Happy Birthday from me to you! Best wishes. Did you get any sweet gifts? Yeah, really? Man, that sounds really cool. Lucky you. I hope next year's even better. Give yourself a pat on the back for me. Also, write yourself a birthday card, to yourself, from me. Forge my signature. I made one for you but I'm pretty sure it got lost in the mail._


	69. Sanguine

_**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**_

* * *

Isaac was the first to notice that something was wrong.

"You all can sense that, right?" he asked. "It's not just me?"

Periodic strobes of psynergy pulsed out of the palace's upper floors, resonating like the mental equivalent of thunderclaps. None of them had felt that kind of power in ages, if they ever had at all; only the Doom Dragon came close. They were still several minutes away from the front entrance, but the echoes were clear as day.

"Garet and Tyrell haven't started fighting the Empyror alone, have they?" asked Jenna. She turned toward her husband, her remaining eye full of concern. "How many people are inside?"

Isaac paused. "It's tough to tell from here, but... five," he said. "Four up above, one lower but ascending."

"So Garet, Tyrell and the Empyror... who else?" asked Matthew.

"We ran into Karst just outside the Archives," said Jenna, "and sent her on toward the palace."

Ivan brought a hand to his chin. "The fifth person is likely Felix," he said. _Or Chalis, _he thought. _But we don't need to mention to Jenna that her brother might have died buying us time to escape._ "No idea who's who, but we'd better hurry."

They quickened their pace.

Not that it made a significant difference, in the end.

* * *

Felix was alright, of course, aside from serious burns over most of his body and a persistent sense of confusion. He had no idea what time it was; he spent much of his fight with Chalis under the influence of hallucinogens, and had no idea how long the fight actually took.

Judging from the chaos above, he must have been out for a while. It was as if the entire battlefield was suddenly confined to one room. Waves of psynergy rocked the building and flooded his senses, and as he continued climbing the seemingly endless staircase, it became harder and harder to ignore the pain of his burns and the exhaustion in his limbs.

Then, all at once, it was over. It was like snuffing out a lamp – there one second, gone the next. He heard frantic footsteps the next level up, and he paused to listen. It was just one person, and he or she was moving with the uneven staccato that characterized a leg injury.

The footsteps moved down the hallway the next level up. Felix waited until they were out of hearing distance before glancing up the next flight of stairs to see where they had gone.

He recognized this area. He had passed it on several occasions, and never paid it any mind. Now that he thought about it, it certainly looked important; it was wide, wider than most of the main hallways, but more... businesslike. He could feel a draft coming through it, like there was an open window some distance away.

His first instinct was to ignore it and keep walking.

He was heading up the staircase before he realized what he was doing, but then he caught himself. Why head onward? He knew that there was someone of importance who had gone down that way. And why was it that he had never explored this area? He'd lived in Tuaparang for decades, and worked in this building for the vast majority of it.

_It's not your problem,_ he thought. _Just move on. It's not your job to go in here._

He blinked. Yes, of course. Keep going, go upstairs like... wait.

Why was he accepting that so readily?

He tried moving toward the hallway, but some instinct was forcing him to look away, to lose interest. He gilded himself and pushed forward, only to feel an immense dread forming in his stomach. _Don't go. THIS HALLWAY IS NOT FOR YOU._ The thought hit him like a sledgehammer, and he was staggering up the stairs again before long.

It was the compulsion again. It had to be. Something deep inside him was utterly convinced that going down that hallway was a bad idea. He knew he could fight it if he really tried, but there really were things he could be doing instead. He sensed that there were still people a few flights above him, and if the fight was over, he might be needed.

One thing was for certain, though. That hallway led somewhere important. And it led to something that the Empyror absolutely did not want him to know about.

_Crash!_

There was a clatter and a curse some distance above him. His conditioning was already pushing him to forget about the hallway; he probably would have lost interest even if the curse's familiarity didn't strike such a chord with him.

Felix rushed upstairs, the mystery of the hallway banished from his mind.

* * *

She had just missed one step, this time, and she had caught herself. But her ramshackle mobility rig had made some less-than-encouraging noises when she landed that hard. Carefully, she moved the rest of the way down to the next landing. Her leg was still squeaking.

Karst bent over to take a closer look. That was when her balance abandoned her.

She fell, landing hard on one knee – feeling nothing, of course, but she remembered that it should have hurt – and dropping her scythe as she threw out her hands to stop herself. She spat one of her original epithets, and with her hands, moved her leg to check the machinery. It looked pretty banged-up. Not that she could really tell, of course. It was very complex-looking. But it was dented, and scratched, and...

Footsteps.

She snapped her head up to look, and positioned herself as defensively as possible without standing up.

It was unnecessary.

Felix rounded the corner of the staircase. He froze. Their eyes met. It was odd how it had only been a few hours since they last spoke, but already she missed that look, the unique combination of naive altruism and stubborn dedication that somehow made up a useful individual. He had obviously just been in a fight, but he was alive, so the details didn't really interest her. His presence was what mattered.

"You're okay," he said. His expression said so much more. _I thought you were dead. You're moving your legs. Something big happened since the last time we talked. I'm here to help._

Karst nodded. "Sure," she said. _There are more important things going on. I am unharmed. I may need assistance._

"Where were you going?" Felix asked. _Are you running away from something? Are you chasing something? Is it somewhere I can go faster?_

Karst narrowed her eyes, looking away nervously. "I was going for help. Garet's hurt. I didn't do it." _I'm ashamed that I couldn't help him. I'm ashamed that I was on his side. I'm ashamed that I care._

"Who else is in there?" Felix asked. _Is he getting any medical attention? Does he stand a chance of surviving?_

"Just his son," Karst responded. _He can validate my story._ "The Empyror escaped. The attack wasn't long ago. There's still time to save your friend."

"I'm sure the others are on their way," Felix said. "I'll see what I can do. Are you coming?" _Would you be offended if I helped you up?_

"Yes," she replied. _I would not be offended._ "Felix, I... I can't be part of this," she said as he lifted her to her feet in a single, seemingly-apathetic motion. She lowered her voice. "On another day, I might have been on the other side. I just can't be around for this, whatever happens." _If he survives, I can't celebrate. If he dies, I can't mourn._

"You don't need to," he replied. "You've done your part." _And I trust that it was the right thing to do._

They ascended the last few steps, and he lowered her back down the imperceptible few inches to the floor, as if she had been walking under her own power all along and he was simply letting go of her waist.

He kept walking, turning an eye in her direction. It flicked up and down before meeting her gaze. _I need to make sure you're still standing before I go._ "Just send everyone else in when they get here. I'll vouch for you, so will Tyrell. Don't do any more than you feel you have to."

She nodded. He hurried into the room. She stayed behind, satisfied and content with the few words they shared. There were better ways to convey meaning.

Mind reading was trumped-up. Who needed it when you knew your partner this well already?

* * *

Felix hastened toward his fallen comrade. "How's he doing?" he asked. "What's the damage?"

"I don't know!" shouted Tyrell. "It's this… this sword thing! The one he was using, there was a flash, and… and it was in, and…"

"Just calm down," said Felix. "The others are on their way. I'll do what I can until they show, and then we'll be able to do something for your Dad. Okay?"

Tyrell nodded and sat back, making space for Felix to get in.

He made sure not to let his expression show it, but it really didn't look good. Felix recognized the sword immediately as one of the Tuaparang drain-swords, the ones designed to combat Adepts directly. On the plus side, it meant that Garet might have fallen unconscious from the draining effect, not from his wounds; unfortunately, Felix had no idea what the complications might be with regard to healing.

He checked Garet's pulse. It was weak. Very weak. But it was there.

"He's still alive," said Felix. He couldn't feel Garet's spirit, thanks mostly to the sword's intervention, but physically he was still in one piece. "There's not a lot I can help with right now, not with the sword still in there, and removing it will do more harm than good without a Mercury Adept nearby. He'd just bleed out."

Tyrell clenched his fists until his knuckles were white. His eyes darted around the room in desperation, before settling on his own waist-pouch. "I've got a few emergency bits of medicine," he said. "Will a Vial or two help?"

"Wouldn't hurt," said Felix. "Just don't touch the sword."

Felix stepped back, and Tyrell got to work applying whatever medicine he could. Felix just hoped it wouldn't be in vain.

* * *

It really wasn't long before the others arrived, but with all that was at stake, it seemed like an eternity for Karst. She waited at the top of the stairs, using her scythe for balance, trying to maintain some decorum when the echoes of voices came from below.

The rest of the group ascended in little clumps, and when she was spotted, all eyes were on her. Eyes full of confusion, worry, and suspicion.

Karst couldn't bring herself to meet their gazes. "The battle's over," she said. "You should really go inside. Felix is waiting. I'll stay out here."

Their attention shifted almost as one. Ignoring their cries, Karst felt as if a burden had been lifted off her shoulders as they rushed inside.

Now all she had to do was try to tune out the horror and panic that wafted from the room like rotten fruit. She'd had training to shut out unnecessary emotion that might interfere with her work. It was harder this time than she thought it would be.

* * *

"Oh gods, Garet!" shouted Mia. She was the first one to reach his side. "I can't read his vitals. Is he…? He isn't -"

"The sword's blocking you. He's still alive, I think," said Felix. "You made it just in time. Can someone give me the short version of what happened on your end?"

Isaac and Jenna were the next to kneel next to Garet. The others stood a short distance away, giving Mia space to work.

"Mia's on our side again," said Isaac. "Caudgel's dead, and her hostage - Rief's girlfriend - is going to wait for us back at the airship docks. Rief and Karis will be there too." He hesitated. "The fight at the archives almost went south. Jenna-"

"_I'm fine,_" hissed Jenna, idly adjusting her bandage. "We have more important things to worry about right now."

Almost on queue, Mia released a powerful Ply. She clicked her tongue as the sword glowed a bright purple in response, absorbing the spell and dispersing it.

"Felix," she said, "I think I know what to do. But it'll be tricky. Beyond tricky."

"You need the sword gone," guessed Felix. "But once it's gone…"

"I have no idea what the wound looks like right now," said Mia, "and that means I can't guess what sort of damage it will cause on the way back out. Normally I'd just scan his vitals, but that's a no-go. We don't have time to remove the clothing around the wound. Even if we did, I can't risk touching the blade. If my psynergy's sapped…"

The silence hung heavily on the end of her sentence.

"I don't know," said Felix. "It's risky. But it's the only chance he's got."

Mia frowned, eyes darting around nervously. "We… we could try to stabilize him," she suggested. "Maybe we can keep him going long enough to get back to land, and get help…"

"From whom?" asked Isaac. "Piers? Mia, you're the most talented healer in Weyard. Even Rief wouldn't be much help here - if you can't do it, then… then I guess he was doomed from the start, wasn't he?"

"Isaac, _please_ don't talk that way," said Jenna. But her eyes agreed with him.

They all looked at Tyrell.

He was shaking slightly. His hand was over his mouth. No tears had formed yet, but his eyes were reddened. He took slow, shuddering breaths.

"Why are you looking at me?" he asked. "I don't know what to do. I _never_ know what to do." He looked at Matthew and Sveta. "One of you guys has to have some idea. Right? Something, anything…"

Matthew shook his head. "I'm sorry, Tyrell. There's not a lot I can do."

Sveta pursed her lips and remained silent, wiping a tear from her eye. She only had one talent that might be relevant to the situation, and it would only matter if it was already too late.

"Ivan?" asked Tyrell. "Come on…"

"If I could do anything to help," replied the room's only other occupant, "I would have. Garet was one of the first friends I ever had. All I can do now is get in the way."

Tyrell nodded. "I understand," he said. "I just figured I'd try, you know? There's always been some other option. There's always a way out. This time…" He trailed off.

Felix knelt down next to Garet. "It's your call, Tyrell," he said. "Pull it, or leave it?"

Tyrell hesitated.

"It'll have to be pulled eventually," he said, "and things aren't gonna get better the longer we wait. I say, do it."

Felix nodded. "Mia, are you ready?"

She took a deep breath. "Yes. Do it."

He did it.

He almost passed out from grabbing the hilt, even after building up such a resistance to it. It took all of his willpower to stay conscious as he pulled the sword free. He tossed it away.

Mia's eyes went wide as the bubble that was blocking her scans shifted aside. She immediately dove forward, working in a frenzy and putting out more healing psynergy at once than she had in almost thirty years.

"Isaac, keep him going!" she shouted. "He's not gonna-"

But Isaac had already thrown his hands out, feeling the weakness of Garet's life force, and doing his utmost to keep it strong. Felix, having just been sapped by grabbing the sword in the first place, was unable to help, but he could still sense what was going on. Isaac still had some significant talent with Venus psynergy, and if he hadn't stepped in when he did, Garet would already have been gone. But it was like trying to put more sand in a broken hourglass.

Mia panted heavily from exertion. "There's damage everywhere," she gasped. "That sword was eating him alive, it's like… oh gods, the hole in his chest is barely even the worst of it…"

Matthew hurried forward and joined his father. "I'll try to buy you time," he said, adding his Cures to the mix. It helped, but only barely.

Jenna used her Auras. Ivan tried to make use of his Psynergy-restoring Djinn.

Mia began to waver.

"Damn it," she muttered, eyelids fluttering with exhaustion. "Stay with us. Please…"

Matthew nearly passed out shortly after, completely out of psynergy. "I'm sorry. I tried my best-"

"You did well," Isaac said. He didn't speak any more. His face was red, and sweat dripped down his face.

Jenna looked uncertainly at Tyrell. He hadn't changed his expression once throughout the endeavor.

They tried and tried.

Until Mia dropped to her hands and knees.

"…I'm sorry…" she said. "I tried. I tried…" And before anyone could respond, she fainted, splayed out on the floor much like Garet was.

It had likely been over long before that, though.

Felix cursed silently. Tears streamed from Jenna's remaining eye. Matthew held his face in his hands. Isaac kept trying.

"Work, damn it!" he hissed. "Work! Revive!" He pounded the floor. "Revive…"

Felix shook his head. "It had to happen eventually," he whispered. "It's a miracle we all even made it this far."

"Gods damn it," Tyrell said. "Damn it all. Not again."

"It's not over!" shouted Isaac. "Revive, damn you, revive-"

But Jenna placed her hand gently on his shoulder. "It's done," she said sadly. "We all did what we could."

No one spoke.

Tyrell crawled over to Garet's body, now completely nonresponsive. All of the healing left him looking completely intact, at least outwardly. It was as if he was in a deep sleep.

The young Mars Adept laughed quietly. "Never thought I'd wish I could hear you snore," he said.

He hugged his father.

"Thanks, everyone," he said. "Thanks for trying. You did your best."

Again, no one responded.

There was a long silence, interrupted only by Mia's faint breathing, and the sobs of several of the remaining team members. Mia came to after a short while, but didn't get back up immediately.

Finally, someone cut in.

"Tyrell," said Sveta quietly, "if you wish… I may be able to help."

He looked up.

She shook her head. "It is not especially significant, in light of everything. But if I am not mistaken, you had little warning, and no time to say your final words. If you wish, I can use Spirit Sense. It may provide some closure." She closed her eyes. "Sometimes it makes a world of difference, if only in a small way."

Tyrell looked from her to his father. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I'd like that. Thank you."

She gracefully walked over to where Tyrell sat, cradling his father's body. Jenna and Felix moved away. Isaac followed suit shortly after, with one last, regretful look at Garet's remains.

Sveta knelt down, held one of Tyrell's hands, and gripped Garet's shoulder with the other.

She closed her eyes. There was silence for a moment, followed by gentle waves of psynergy coming forth from her.

"He says…" She paused. "He says thank you for trying to help him, and he apologizes for going ahead without you. He apologizes for letting the Empyror escape." She glanced up. "Obviously that is the very last thing on our minds, but…" She paused again, then looked back down and closed her eyes again.

"He thanks Isaac and Jenna for being his lifelong friends," she said, "and he thanks Ivan and Mia for their friendship as well. You all meant so much to him, it is difficult to express in words… He also apologizes for how he treated Felix, in the end. Felix, he says you are a good man, and that he was wrong to be taken in by the Tuaparang that way."

Felix nodded. "I understand," he said. "Thanks."

"Matthew," continued Sveta, "Garet wishes you well. He thought of you almost as another son. He is proud of you and the decisions you have made. He says you remind him of Isaac, and that… that is a much stronger compliment than I am able to communicate."

Matthew cursed and wiped his eyes. But he nodded in appreciation.

Sveta looked at Tyrell sadly. "You can hear too, can you not? Because I believe this next part is intended only for you."

Tyrell nodded. "Yeah, I… yeah. It's working." He closed his eyes.

Sveta closed her eyes as well, and continued the trance.

For almost a full minute, there was no sound. Then, a quiet sniffling could be heard.

"Oh, gods…" muttered Sveta in spite of herself, squeezing her eyes shut.

The silence continued for several more seconds. Tyrell laughed quietly, and then opened his eyes.

"Thanks," he said simply.

Sveta let go of Garet's shoulder and threw her arms around Tyrell, hugging him tightly and sobbing deeply.

"I am so very, very sorry," she said. "But I hope that helped."

Tyrell hugged her back. "It did. It really, really did," he said.

* * *

Once everyone had paid their respects, they set out for the airship dock. They left Garet's body in the palace; he had asked, during the Spirit Sense meditation, not to be buried, but simply to be remembered.

Allowing the others to go ahead a short measure, Felix made sure no one was in sight when he helped Karst down the stairs.

They made it back to the dock without further incident, aside from some discussion of the separate events they had experienced. There were no more Tuaparang generals. The Empyror had escaped, but he had nowhere to go. It was over. The cost was steep, but it was over.

There was some more mourning when Rief, Karis and Maddie saw the group return minus a member. Not a lot was said of note, but at one point, Maddie found herself alone in conversation with Tyrell.

"I'm sorry I said you were a clown that one time," she said awkwardly. "For what it's worth, I know how much it hurts, what you're going through. I just found out I was orphaned a few weeks ago. It's not fun."

Tyrell smiled sadly. "Yeah, thanks, I guess," he said. "I know my Dad was proud of me, though. I did my best in that last fight. I showed 'em what I could do. It wasn't enough, but it was my best. And I mean, my best was enough to take out Blados, right? I beat that guy pretty much one-on-one. Man, was Dad impressed when he heard that…"

Maddie cocked her head. "You beat Blados on your own?" She paused, then nodded. "That makes sense, I guess. I mean, all things considered."

"What do you mean?" asked Tyrell.

"Well, Blados was the guy who killed your mom," she said, "according to the stuff I read in the archives. You were trying to avenge her, right? Well, you did. Good job."

Tyrell stared blankly. Then the stare became a smile. "Yeah, I guess I did, didn't I?" he said. "What d'you know…"

When preparations were complete, Ivan took to the pilot seat of the airship the Empyror had returned in several hours prior, and the rest of the group piled into the back. They set off toward Weyard.

With the rest of the group's blessing, Tyrell stood up, opened the rear door of the ship, and put several of his Djinn on standby.

He dropped a Meteor on Tuaparang. A fitting end.

He went back to his seat and closed the rear door again, feeling incredibly satisfied.

No one noticed that there was a piece of "debris," as it were, from Tuaparang City, that remained flying in the air after the rest was obliterated by Martian fire.

* * *

"Did anyone else make it?" asked the Empyror. "Or is it just the standard crew?"

The lieutenant bowed his head. "Just the soldiers you ordered aboard ahead of time, Your Highness," he said. "I'm sorry."

The High Empyror was silent, sitting in his leather chair on the bridge of his massive air cruiser. His fingers were tented in front of his face. He closed his eyes.

"Chalis is gone, then?" He asked. "We've heard no transmissions? There's no chance she made it off?"

The lieutenant shook his head. "Apologies, Your Highness. You'll be the first to know if we hear from her, but I have my doubts."

The Empyror nodded.

He stood abruptly.

"Well then, we'll just have to start over again, won't we?" he said. "We've still got enough firepower on this boat to take Weyard by force, if the Warriors of Vale are out of the way."

He nodded toward the Chief Engineer. "Full speed ahead. Follow that airship," he said.

Then he took a pair of binoculars and raised them to his eyes, watching the ship that bore his enemies toward safety.

He grinned.

"Ready all weapons," he said, lowering the binoculars again, "and fire on my mark."

He raised a hand.

All the gunners' eyes were on him, waiting for the signal.

The High Empyror savored the tension.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Sorry it took so long. This was a tough chapter to write.  
_

_Chapter 1 of Chronicles of the Wardens is up! It's rated M, for those of you interested in reading it but unable to find it with the standard K-T filter the site uses. There are no spoilers for DoJ in chapter 1, but it IS a (distant) sequel, so keep that in mind if you're deciding whether to read it or not._

_On another note... normally I don't care a lot about people putting spoilers in reviews to my stories. Once in a while I'll specifically ask people not to mention certain details, but that's only if it's a fact that directly impacts someone's enjoyment of the story. But generally speaking, I want to point out that reviews exist for non-readers to see if they want to give a story a try. People will check reviews to see what people think of a story, to see how many people enjoyed it (or disliked it) enough to leave a review, and to see what kinds of people the story attracts._

_So when the first several reviews on a story spoil __**the death of a major character,**_ _you can see how that might be a bit of a problem._

_I would never delete a person's review without permission, and I know that there probably aren't a whole lot of people who got the story ruined for them. But the fact is that one or more people out there may have seen the story, considered trying it, and then decided against it because they got the ending spoiled immediately. They will never, ever be able to experience the story as it was intended._

_I shouldn't have to put "No spoilers, please" at the top of every chapter, and it hasn't been a problem until this point; it's fine if people read that Sveta's having trouble, or that Karis is sad or something. Those are just transitional events that are possible in every story. A character death, or another major plot revelation, doesn't work the same way; it's something you (generally) don't go back from, and a reader who knows that that event is coming up will see the story differently from one who does not._

_So please, I won't tell you what to comment on and what not to comment on, but please __**think about who might read your review**_ _before you post it._

_...Anyway, on to review responses since it's been an epoch since I did them last, and there are a bunch of new people (anon reviewers mostly) this time._

_Lumino: Hello! Nope, still not dead. Anyway, the Empyror might have gone back in time to warn himself if time travel wasn't so incredibly exhausting. When he tried it earlier, he ended up having to nap, and when he tried it mid-fight, it nearly ruined him._

_And if there's one thing the Empyror is fond of, it's cards. Specifically, having many of them up his sleeves. This may or may not be a literal statement._

_godofmadness43: Sword. Yeah, I guess I could've been more clear._

_Adam kirky: I'm flattered that you like the story so much! I feel like this is a story that needs to take place within the Golden Sun universe to make any sense, but yes, I have considered adapting fanfics I've written into more original material. It, uh, doesn't often work as well as you'd think... but I have a bunch of original material too, stuff that I'll start working on in earnest once DoJ is done._

_Master-of-Omega: Fifteen hours? Holy ballsack. I didn't realize it was that long. Thanks for sticking it out til the end._

_Kaitlyn McPherso: Nope!_

_anti-viper: Sorry I've been so quiet lately. Thanks for all the feedback, though! I like the idea of a villain who always has a backup plan – it makes it so much more exciting when the good guys aren't the only ones who succeed against all odds._

_TheJadeDragon37: Glad you like it – I seem to remember the games having it that opposing elements were weak to each other, which is why zombies (venus) were weak to wind (jupiter), and fish (mercury) were vulnerable to fire (mars). I could be wrong, though. It's been a year or so since I played._

_The-Reaper-of-Corrupted-Souls: YOU'RE awesome._


	70. Divine Wind

_**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**_

* * *

"Hey, Felix?" called Ivan. "What's this big, flashing red light mean-"

The airship was rocked with sudden turbulence right then, as some very large projectiles tore through the air nearby.

They exploded, some distance ahead, into a cloud of small, sharp flechettes, hurled at great speed in all directions. Ivan reflexively swatted them away by summoning a huge gust of wind. They were saved from the deadly debris, but the airship was sent spinning for several seconds until Ivan was able to right it again, both using the controls and his own power over air.

He spun the airship 180 degrees to see a huge, dark form floating in the empty sky. A dark form like a much, MUCH larger version of his own airship, covered in dark machinery and deadly weaponry.

It was positioning to fire a broadside.

Ivan spun the ship back around and gunned it as hard as he could toward the mainland.

* * *

The Empyror frowned.

"Look," he said, "I know we can't really fire our full complement while pursuing at maximum speed. But could somebody maybe have hit them? Or, I dunno, winged them a little?"

"Apologies, sir. The men are doing our best. We'll get them next time."

"Whatever," said the Empyror. "No rush. We aren't in any danger. Just reload and hit 'em again." The gunners hadn't had any real-life fighting experience, for obvious reasons. He couldn't expect them to nail such a small target perfectly every time. And as long as the enemy ship went down eventually, it'd be alright. The air cruiser could chase them forever, as its engines were capable of a higher maximum velocity, and the Adepts had no way of causing any damage whatsoever.

* * *

"Hold on tight," said Jenna. She waited just a moment for Karis to tie her bag of books more tightly, and for everyone else to secure themselves in place.

Then she mashed the button on the passenger bay door.

It clanked open and her ears popped as the pressure equalized, air rushing out of the cabin, tossing her hair about as it went. She squeezed the handhold nearest the door tightly. When the cabin door was completely clear, Jenna got her first good look at the air cruiser.

It was immense. It towered over them like a part of Tuaparang city itself, monolithic yet glistening in the light of dawn with devious presence. The end of the ship that she identified as the "front" sported a massive, double-barrelled cannon, and there were several smaller ones lining the top of the ship as her eye traced its silhouette. She spotted what seemed to be a glass canopy on a tower-like structure midway toward the rear.

She raised her hand and smiled. A beam of heat lanced out toward the canopy.

* * *

The Empyror didn't even flinch as the heat ray came forth from the Adepts' airship.

He was, however, a little surprised by the loud noise created when it struck the invisible absorption-shield that surrounded the cruiser. It was a resonating, alien-sounding roar that echoed throughout the ship and shook him to his core. It was as if someone had struck a massive metal sheet with a steel rod, and then did it over and over again as fast as a fly beats its wings.

He could see the point of heat, surrounded by blackness and an odd, purple smoke. He hoped they could see it, too. It was more fun to imagine their hopelessness.

"Shields holding at 99%, your Highness," said the lead engineer. "Recalibrating for maximum efficiency."

"Good man," replied the Empyror thoughtfully. They wouldn't even be able to make a dent, no matter how hard they tried. "Can you do anything about that noise, though?"

The engineer shook his head. "I'm afraid not. I'll make a note to look into it when we upgrade our shield battery next time."

"Ah, well. Let's just take them out before they can try again," said the Empyror. "Fire at will!"

* * *

Matthew held Sveta protectively, trying ineffectively to cover her long ears as he did so. The air was rushing in and around the airship furiously, and he could tell from the force of her grip that she was plainly feeling the effects. It hurt to see her like this, but what could he do?

The ship lurched to the side as Ivan avoided another barrage, this time with some help from Karis as she knocked a cannon shell directly out of the air. Tyrell took a position next to Jenna and added to the outgoing firepower; Karst carefully joined him when the airship settled somewhat, and she locked herself in place before putting her considerable talents to use.

Isaac was moving about, trying at first to co-ordinate everyone, but giving up once he saw that there wasn't much to do; he eventually settled for joining the others at the rear, throwing out a precision Ragnarok here and there. Felix sat in deep contemplation as Mia kept his nausea in check; her eyes were open, as well, in case one of the fighters got hit by a stray piece of flak. Rief was shielding Maddie as well as he could, but the frustration in his eyes made it clear that he felt just the same as Matthew – they were sitting ducks here, and there was only so much that shooting out the back door could do.

Sveta made a noise like a hiss against his chest, flinching again as one of Karis's gusts of wind saved them from likely destruction. She was fighting her fear, but it was winning, and she hated it.

"How're you holding up?" he asked her quietly. It wasn't a conversation that the entire crew needed to hear.

But amidst the chaos, she didn't even hear him. He considered repeating the question, louder, but he knew an answer was redundant. She was hurting. She was mad. They all were. There was nothing they could do, and Matthew could see from where he sat that all that firepower they were putting out was barely scratching the massive enemy cruiser.

It was only a matter of time.

The ship lurched again, and a few people stumbled. No one fell out the back, but it was a near thing.

Felix stood abruptly. "Oh, just come the hell back!" he shouted. "It's no good anyway. He knew what he'd be facing. He planned for this."

After some hesitation – and another sudden lurch – the group began to take their seats again, with the exception of Karis, who continued fighting defensively to the best of her ability.

"He's obviously got some kind of shield," Felix continued. "Another psynergy-barrier. We might be able to overpower it if we kept trying, but none of us has the energy, and eventually, one of those shots is going to hit us. We need another plan."

Isaac nodded. "What's running the shield?"

Felix shrugged. "The Empyror never told me about this thing. He's paranoid, and it paid off for him in this case. I don't know a thing about it, except what I can guess, and it doesn't take a genius to realize that the thing's shielded from psynergy in some way."

"Well, we can turn it off, can't we?" asked Jenna. "Something like that needs a power source. We can just hit that."

Felix sighed. "He won't be stupid enough to stick it on the outside," he said. "It's gonna be deep in the core of the ship, maybe even under heavy guard. Not that we'll be able to land on it. It'll sap us dry first."

"So how do we fight it?"

"_We don't,_" shouted Felix. "We've got two options. Option one, we keep doing what we're doing, head for the mainland as fast as possible and hope we make it. That doesn't look all that likely, but it's there."

He stood. "Option two, I go down there myself. I can-"

Karst shoved him, hard, back into his seat. "No," she said.

He glared. "I'm the only one here who's got enough practice to stay conscious inside one of those fields. It's me or no one."

Karst nodded at Maddie. "Make her go. She's not an Adept, so the fields don't affect her."

Rief pulled her back protectively.

Felix got back up and stood nose-to-nose with Karst. "You can't just order someone to their death. The ship's going to have warriors on it, and she can't fight."

"Neither can you," said Karst. "You're unarmed, and you'll be drained. Even if you last long enough to get your psynergy back, you'll still be a Venus Adept on an air cruiser."

"I'll borrow a sword," countered Felix.

"They have ranged weapons and you won't have the element of surprise for long."

"I'll improvise."

"_You'll throw up._ Airsickness."

Matthew listened quietly the entire time. There was another option, but it wasn't acceptable to him. He hoped, ironically, that Sveta was too lost in her fear to be paying attention. He shifted his hands slightly, unconsciously, to cover her ears. She didn't need to know.

Felix didn't have a response. He cursed, looked out at the Empyror's ship regretfully, and sat back down.

"If we send someone who will fail," said Karst, "it will be exactly the same as not sending anyone at all. Except, of course, that there will be one more person guaranteed not to make it back safely. Unless we have a good, likely option, it's best to just take the risk of-"

The airship rocked and there was a series of metallic clangs. A shell had exploded too close to the ship's hull. It was a glancing blow, but the rotors seemed to be spinning just a bit more erratically.

Karst frowned, watching the ceiling distastefully as if she could see the damaged machinery with her own eyes. "Shut the door," she said. "There's no point in continuing to fire at them, and if we're going to ride this out, we should make sure we're as well-protected as possible."

Hitting the button to close the passenger bay door, Jenna shook her head in frustration. "Damn it all," she said. "I feel so helpless. We can't do a thing but sit and pray."

Everyone returned to their seat but Karis, who kept watch out a window to keep deflecting projectiles as well as she could. She looked tired already, and the constant exertion wasn't helping. Tyrell kept up a slow burn of psynergy as well, treating the ship's hull like a suit of armor and toughening it to resist harsh blows. Not that it would help much against a direct hit.

"Matthew," mumbled Sveta sadly, "you know-"

"No," he whispered, and he held her tighter.

She struggled against him. "I am _sorry!_" she said angrily. "There is no other way, I-"

"You'll sit here with the rest of us. Failing that, you'll help fend off the cruiser's shots."

Sveta broke free. "I will not! I can-"

He pulled her back. "You can what?" asked Matthew. "Walk knowingly to your death yet again? What are you, a masochist?"

Their conversation hadn't escaped the others' notice.

Isaac raised an eyebrow. "What are you two going on about now?"

Sveta stood and walked toward the door that had just been shut. "I am going on to the ship and shutting down the shield," she said.

"You're _not-_" began Matthew, grabbing the only thing he could before she got out of range – one of her braids – and attempting to pull her back. She spun and slapped him, and he let go, but he got out of his chair and tried restraining her again.

She hit him in the stomach. He doubled over, winded.

"I am sorry," she said quietly. "Sorry for everything."

"Sveta," said Jenna, "you can't go. Seriously. It'll be even worse for you than for any of us. Or have you forgotten-"

Sveta squeezed her eyes closed, shutting out the memory. "No," she said. "I have not forgotten. I never will. But earlier today, Matthew and I discovered that I am immune to the fields while in beastform. The djinn take the brunt of it, but they recover quickly enough for me to get through safely."

Felix's eyes widened. "So you think you can make it inside? You can shut down the shields?"

She nodded. "I will not be drained at all, and I need no weapon to fight. I will essentially be fighting at top form. I can even read the soldiers to find out where it is and get there as swiftly as possible. Once I am finished, the ship will be vulnerable."

"What, so we can destroy it while you're still aboard?" asked Matthew, still on his hands and knees. "Not a chance."

"You would rather sit here and pray that the Tuaparang fail to get a lucky shot?" said Sveta. "It is the only option, Matthew. If I stay, none of us will make it back."

He picked himself up off the ground and folded his arms defiantly. "If you go, you'll die. My answer's no."

Sveta stepped forward with a snarl. "Again, you do not get to decide my fate. We really do not have time to retread this ground."

"We wouldn't have to if you'd stop trying to get yourself killed-"

"It is for the good of us all-"

"Except you, and except me-"

"We would die anyway-"

"There's a chance-"

"Will you just STOP and-"

The airship rocked and spun, knocking them both off their feet. Everyone was pushed against the walls of the ship as it whirled, going down faster and faster.

"You two!" shouted Ivan from the cockpit. "We really don't have time for an argument!" He mashed several buttons and slammed the control stick firmly in one direction. The ship spun slower and slower, levelling out again after what felt like forever. Their stomachs dropped out as Ivan hit another series of buttons, sending the airship vertically to regain the lost altitude. "Make a decision," finished Ivan, "but maybe try to be a little less distracting about it!"

Matthew and Sveta picked themselves up again while the others watched. Their momentum gone, neither of them spoke for several seconds.

Then Sveta moved wordlessly to the exit door and held her hand over the controls. "Ivan," she called, "please bring us over the ship. Go as near to an entry point as you can, if one is visible."

"Sveta..."

"Matthew, I apologize. But if you really want the choice, I will give it to you." She locked eyes with him. "Will you let me go and save them? Or will you leave your friends and family to die?"

"It's not like that-"

"But it is." She stepped away from the door and took Matthew's hands in hers. "I have the ability to end this, thus I have the responsibility to, no matter the cost to myself. Just as at Apollo Sanctum, and in Bilibin, I have the opportunity to save many with my sacrifice, and I would not be me if I let the opportunity pass."

Matthew looked away, but didn't take his hands from hers. He didn't disagree either.

She leaned up and kissed his cheek. "Good luck," she said, turning away, preparing to open the door and begin the assault.

"Wait."

She looked back.

"You're right about a lot of things," said Matthew. "One life for many, sure. And I guess you're the only surefire option. But there's one thing you're very wrong about."

"What is that?"

"You don't have to go alone."

He smiled at her, took her hand, and collapsed.

* * *

Everyone else in the cabin jumped in surprise. Isaac and Felix seemed especially concerned.

"What in the hell?" said Isaac.

Felix shivered. "That's an interesting trick."

"What happened? What did Matthew do?" cried Jenna. "Is he going to be okay?!"

Sveta turned to her, expression neutral, but eyes aglow. It took a moment for Jenna to realize that this was not even a figure of speech; Sveta's eyes were literally emitting an odd golden light.

"We'll be fine," said Sveta. "Just watch and wait for your opening. It won't be long."

She hit the button and the door opened, air rushing through again. Sveta didn't even flinch. She watched as the ocean rushed by beneath them, and after a few seconds, the long, steel deck of the air cruiser took its place. She jumped.

The others stared after her. Matthew's body still lay limp on the floor.

"Did Sveta just use a contraction?" asked Karis.

Felix shook his head. "I'm not so sure that's just Sveta anymore."

* * *

The experience of sharing a soul with another is indescribable to one who has not experienced it. There are fundamental assumptions that the layperson will make, yet be unaware that they are being made. It would be simple for the uninformed to assume that the two spirits are sharing control, or taking turns. But even saying that there are two spirits is inaccurate. They act as one, moving and thinking in unison, like individual musicians in an orchestra. They co-ordinate by instinct, as easily as you co-ordinate the muscles in your legs when you walk.

The spirits must be incredibly in-sync for this to work at all. It is a very, very rare thing to occur. It is even rarer for it to be particularly useful. But when it happens, the two participants are invariably close, and the experience strengthens their relationship even further. It's sort of like hugging someone right in the soul.

Matthew and Sveta – not that there was a distinction at that moment – found the soul sharing to be much smoother this time than it had been in Apollo Sanctum. Perhaps they were used to it, or perhaps they were used to each other. There was no struggle. It was easy. It was like a dance that they had practiced for days on end. Each one knew the next step that the other was planning to take, and the next, and the next, as far as they both could see.

They waited as long as possible to change to beastform before landing, so as to conserve energy. They sent a weak spark down toward the ship, watched the point when it was dispersed by the field, and shifted just before that. They landed a split-second later with a loud, metallic clang. The damage they would have taken from the long fall was mostly counteracted by the djinn, by beastform, and by the strength Matthew had brought with him when his soul entered Sveta's body.

They were up in an instant, their head swinging around, spotting the entrance immediately and dashing toward it. They could feel the djinn's energy draining very rapidly. They only had a few more seconds.

The door was designed to be opened by machinery. A normal human would not have had the strength to operate it alone. Matthew and Sveta simply jammed a claw inside and wrenched the door open, ducking inside and swinging it shut behind them.

The drain ceased instantly, and they dropped out of beastform just in time to see the three guards who had been posted at the door, still in shock after seeing a massive wolf-creature tear open a several-hundred-pound barrier.

The soul-entwined pair dashed toward the first target, knocking his weapon aside with a strike from their right hand. Their left went up, striking the soldier in the side of his jaw. Their right leg shot out and kicked him in the side of the knee, and their right elbow went for his throat. He began to drop.

They moved to the next soldier, body-slamming him from the side and kicking him in the crotch while he was off-balance. As he was falling backward, a downward punch to the face made sure he wouldn't get back up.

The third soldier fired his weapon. The pair dodged and lanced out with a bolt of lightning. Then they jumped sideways toward the wall, leaped off of it, and kicked him in the face.

Then the first soldier hit the ground, followed by the second and third.

Only the third was still conscious. Matthew and Sveta lifted him up with one hand, pressing him against the wall.

"Shield generator," they said. "Where?"

He sputtered objections through his shattered teeth and profusely bleeding nose. They ignored it and activated Spirit Sense, sorting through the terror, the shock, and the blind loyalty to find vague directions. Two decks down, midship. They were near the prow. The deck between them and the shield generator also happened to house a good percentage of the ship's secondary turrets.

They threw the soldier aside. He wouldn't be getting up any time soon.

Their djinn began to refresh as they darted down the halls, looking through doorways and hoping to find a staircase. Dimly, they recognized that an alarm had sounded, and that some of the people in the rooms they passed were starting to react to it. The element of surprise was gone, and they were going to start facing heavy resistance.

A soldier jumped out into the hallway in front of them, crossbow at the ready. Before he could fire, the pair struck him with a two-legged flying kick, riding him several inches along the floor and hopping off when the friction slowed him to a stop. Three more soldiers came out of the same doorway. Matthew and Sveta struck them all with Spark Plasma, and the fight was over before it began.

The staircase was only two doorways further. They ran inside, seeing two soldiers coming up the next flight. Matthew and Sveta hopped the railing, knocking both of the men out with a pair of simultaneous kicks on the way down. They landed safely on the steps, hopped the next railing over, and dashed into the gunner's level.

This hallway led into fewer rooms, but the rooms were larger. On the far side of each room was a traditional row of cannons, similar to what one would find on a ship of the line. There were men frantically aiming, firing and reloading, heedless of their surroundings. But closer to each room's entrance was a more high-tech system, the purpose of which was not immediately clear. There were soldiers working at those as well.

Now that they had their djinn-enhanced strength back, Matthew and Sveta could clear each room with little difficulty. A few precision-strikes of psynergy disabled the cannons and the men operating them. A few speed punches in quick succession took care of the men at the computer systems.

The pair stopped and looked at the screen when it was safe to do so.

It appeared to be a viewpoint at the top of one of the dorsal cannons, the larger ones, and the cannon had ceased to fire. It must have been a control port for the cannon.

Matthew and Sveta sat down, fiddled with the controls for a bit, and quickly figured out how it worked. They turned the cannon and began to fire on the other dorsal cannons. One was destroyed, then two, before their own cannon was disabled.

Three of the cruiser's main cannons were down in seconds, however, not to mention a good portion of their secondary weapons. The pair decided that that was enough for now.

They moved back onto the hallway, descended the next set of stairs, and then began sprinting toward the middle of the ship where they knew the shield generator was located. As they ran down the hallway, they heard a series of rapid clicks from behind them. They turned and fired out a wide gust of wind in reflex, and it knocked aside the flurry of crossbow bolts that had been shot by a small squad of soldiers at the other end of the hallway. The soldiers were too far away to get to in time, so Matthew and Sveta kept running, checking over their shoulder periodically to keep deflecting incoming bolts.

Luckily for them, there was a rather large sign saying "shield generator" near one of the doors ahead. They made it after just two more volleys of crossbow bolts – approximately ten seconds – and hopped inside, slamming the door shut behind them.

There were two soldiers within, guarding a massive cylindrical device that hummed with power. There was a rectangular box near the wall that the cylinder was connected to, and on the box were a series of buttons and levers. The cylinder itself was covered in gauges and information screens. Matthew and Sveta couldn't make any sense of it from a glance.

The soldiers fired. Matthew and Sveta threw theirself to the floor, and then pushed off an instant later, launching toward the first soldier. They couldn't get enough momentum from one push to reach the man, but they landed back on their feet, took one long, perfect step, and swung the other foot into the man's throat, knocking him unconscious instantly. A blast of wind knocked the other man down, and they jumped on him, striking him in the temple to finish the fight.

The pair saw a large equipment cabinet next to the door and pushed it to block the entrance, making a weak barricade. It wouldn't hold for long, but it didn't need to.

They ran to the generator's control panel and looked for an off switch. There wasn't one. There were a lot of knobs and levers labelled with terms that the pair wasn't familiar with.

They punched it very hard. Nothing happened. They cursed. They looked around the room again for something, anything, that they could use to destroy the machine safely. There was nothing. They took a few steps back and, desperate for a result, shocked the control panel with all the psynergy they could muster.

Sparks flew from the machine. The room's lights flickered and died. The cylinder's hum grew louder and louder, until there was a sudden, sharp crack and a grinding noise. The hum died out. Acrid smoke began to pour from both the control panel and the shield generator.

The pair waited several seconds. There were loud voices and some thumps coming from outside, but within the room, there was silence. The generator was down.

_Matthew,_ thought the part that was Sveta, _thank you. I could not have done this without you._

_No problem. Now let's move this barricade and start looking for a way out-_

_No. I am sorry. That is not the plan._

_...What?_

They felt a wave of nausea as their thoughts rocked jarringly out of unison, their newly joined soul fighting against itself.

_No, let's go back to the roof,_ thought Matthew. _We can wave down the others or something. They can come back to pick us up-_

_And risk being an easy target for the cannons again? No, Matthew,_ thought Sveta. _I knew when I came here that I would not be coming back. Tell the others I am sorry, and open fire on the cruiser._

_Sveta, I knew when I came with you that I wouldn't let you kill yourself off!_ cried Matthew. _I'm taking control. We're going. We'll make it out somehow-_

_The longer you wait, the more likely it is that the others will be killed. I cannot allow it,_ said Sveta. _Goodbye._

_You can't be serious._

_I wish we had more time. I wish things could have been different._

_Stop-_

_I love you, Matthew. I always will.  
_

_NO-_

"Goodbye," whispered Sveta.

And then she severed the bond.

* * *

"NOOO!" shouted Matthew, sitting up quickly, heart jumping from barely-working to several beats per second. "Damn it, no! She can't, she's gonna..."

"What happened?" asked Isaac. "Is everything alright?"

"No, it's _not fucking alright!_" spat Matthew. "She's not even going to try to come back, she, sitting down and waiting to die!"

He got to his feet and made sure he had his weapon on him. "Screw it. I'm going after her," he said. "Ivan? Bring us back around, I'm going too-"

"Huh?" asked Ivan, "But the shield-"

"The shield's down!" replied Matthew. "They're vulnerable, and Sveta told me to just make you guys open fire. But she's locked in a room surrounded by guards. Even if there was an easy way off the ship..."

Jenna nodded. "We can't open fire until we know she's alright. But how do we get her out? She's in a huge airship hundreds of feet above the ocean."

Matthew clenched his fists. "Maybe... I don't know, I can go in, get her out, and..."

"Well, _obviously_ there's another way."

The whole group turned to look at Felix.

"This is the Empyror we're talking about," he continued. "There's always a backup plan. He didn't think he'd lose this fight, but that doesn't mean he wasn't prepared. If the ship starts going down, he'll have a way off. There might be smaller airships inside, or a deployable safety boat, or... something. But there'll be a way off."

Matthew looked at him intensely. "Are you positive?" he asked.

"One hundred percent," replied Felix.

Matthew nodded. "Ivan," he called, "in thirty seconds I'm jumping whether there's a ship beneath us or not. I'd really appreciate it if you'd take us back for another run."

The airship turned around once more and began to pick up speed.

Moving to the back of the ship and watching out the open window, Matthew took a moment to remember all the times he and Sveta had shared over the past few days, all the events that led up to this. What if he had just stayed at the castle with her, rather than letting her be kidnapped? What if he hadn't accepted her idea of going to meet with the McCoys personally? What if he had stayed behind, making sure she didn't make her way toward Tuaparang?

Things would be different. Maybe they'd be easier, maybe they'd be harder. But none of that mattered now.

This was his last chance to make things right.

"We'll be back," Matthew said as the cruiser came into view beneath them. "I promise."

And he began his assault anew.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Divine Wind, aka kamikaze. Get it? hahaaaa #explaining the joke_

_I'm actually pretty proud of the fight scenes in this chapter. It might just be the most action-heavy section in the entire story, and I was a little worried going into it, but it came out beautifully! I need to do this more often._

_Hey, so, do any of my long-time readers remember an old GS story by the name of Risen? Very dark, very atmospheric, very well-written? Its author, demonsshade, started working on a sequel, Fallen, about a year and a half back and didn't get very far into it. Well, now he's back! He's picked up a bunch more writing experience and has more-or-less rewritten Fallen into a standalone story. It's called Methodenstreit: The Last Czamaral, and it has a really, really promising first chapter. I highly recommend checking it out. I know I will be._

_Review Response time! I unfortunately don't have time to get to everybody – there were a crapton of reviews, wow – but I'll try to address everyone if possible. I read every single review, and I'm sorry if I can't think of anything to say to all of them, but I really really do appreciate all the feedback and everything! You guys rock._

_General response to lots of people: I'm sorry for making so many of you cry! Hopefully it was a good kind of crying, though. Garet's not completely written out of the story; he'll continue to have a serious impact for a while to come, and let's not forget that this is a universe with people who can legitimately speak to the dead. He's gone, but not forgotten, let's say._

_All the new people who started reading recently: Thanks for all the reviews, and I'm glad you're enjoying the story! Terribly sorry that it's so, er, vast. Brevity is not one of my strengths. But hey, it means you get what you pay for, right? You're getting about infinity hours per dollar you paid, and each extra chapter is even more infinity. I think. I haven't done this kind of math in a while._

_Avatar of Wurms: ...I didn't really think about Garet's djinn, to be honest. Kind of dodged the question. Umm... let's say they dispersed, and will reappear in various hidden locations around Weyard, because they are magic. Djinn don't die, that's something I know for sure._

_Random Person: I agree that Sveta wanting to go to Tuaparang was very reckless and nigh-suicidal, but she does kind of have a history of suicidal altruism. She was also worried (rightly so!) about Matthew going in despite him considering it too dangerous for her, and perhaps there was a little bit of spite in there; my interpretation of Sveta is that she's a person who doesn't like when people try to control her. It was a bad idea on her part, but I felt it was in line with her personality, and it was all for the best in the end._

_And yes, mobs really are all that dumb. Actually there have been studies done, and to paraphrase/wildly distort the truth, people basically turn off parts of their brains when they think there are other people who know how to do something better. It's like outsourcing personal thought. There have also been tons of studies done of mob mentality and anonymity. The moment you lose yourself in a crowd is the moment you start thinking differently. It's pretty shocking._


	71. Unity

_**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**_

* * *

Things weren't quite as smooth the second time around. At least the shields were down; Matthew would have been pretty screwed if they weren't.

For one thing, he lacked Sveta's natural grace, as well as the improved senses granted by sharing a spirit. As a result, instead of landing deftly on his feet, he hit hard and rolled, which was made even worse by the fact that he had a greatsword strapped to his back.

For another, the door was still shut, and it was still designed to be opened by machinery, and Matthew no longer had feral strength, or – again – the spirit sharing benefits. When he got to his feet, struggling against the wind rushing along the surface of the ship, he found himself unable to get inside.

It took more than a few seconds this time. This meant that the dorsal cannons were able to react to his presence. Three of them were destroyed, yes, but there were still another handful left to deal with, and as he soon discovered, they had no compunctions about firing at a target so near the ship itself.

He barely had time to react before the closest gun, about twenty metres away, opened fire on him. The shell went wide, hitting a spot some distance away. Unfortunately, the blastwave still hit him, knocking the wind out of him and sending a wave of sharp pain across that entire side of his body. The noise was so loud that his ears rang despite the rushing air drowning out nearly all other sound.

He got back up almost immediately, watching the smoke clear from the spot the cannon had hit with some hope. Sadly, the hull still seemed mostly intact; it was really, really beat-up, but there was no hole big enough to enter through.

So with flight out of the question, Matthew decided to fight. He chided himself; he probably should just have tried that in the first place.

Before the cannon could fire again, he reached within himself, drawing on his psynergy reserves. The earth was far from where he stood, but he could still feel the spirits of everything that existed whirling around him, and the ethereal force lent him its power. His thoughts were given form, and he summoned a series of spiritual swords – _one, two, three, four_ – that each slammed into the cannon from a different compass direction – _north, south, east, west_. Its gears grinded as it tried to track his movement, but the swords had pinned it in place.

Matthew raised a hand high in the air, letting his power travel down its length as one final, massive sword appeared above the cannon turret. He opened his hand, and slammed it palm-down as if he was pushing the sword downward with his own strength.

It plunged into the heart of the cannon, cutting it wide open. It also happened to detonate the cannon's ammo reserves and shatter its autoloader.

The cannon erupted in flame and smoke, little bits of metal scattered by the powerful gusts rushing over the deck.

But Matthew had no time to enjoy his victory. Another of the cannon operators apparently decided – rightly so – that he was a greater threat than his parents' airship. He felt, rather than heard, this next cannon open fire, and threw himself to the deck in reflex. A shell zipped by right above where he stood, sending his scarf dancing in its wake, and detonated in the air far off the port side.

This time Matthew didn't waste even a moment. He drew the Sol Blade, feeling its familiar grip. Power thrummed through it as though the blade had a mind of its own. By unsheathing it, Matthew was asking it to lend him its power. Now, just as it had countless times before, it obliged him without question.

He ran toward the last remaining cannon and the Sol Blade let out a howl.

* * *

There was a flash of light visible from the command deck. The cruiser shook.

"Your Highness, Cannon Six is down!"

The Empyror jumped out of his chair and ran to the window to look down at the deck. That was the fifth one they had lost. More than half their firepower was gone, and the Adepts had barely fired a shot.

He nearly choked when he peered down.

There was a huge crater where Cannon Six used to be. A literal _crater_ on the deck of a metal airship. It had torn through the hull, too; he could see the inside of one of the rooms in the uppermost deck.

"Holy hell," he said, "what are these people capable of?!"

* * *

Matthew landed among the wreckage in the newly-ventilated room on the top floor of the cruiser. He sheathed the Sol Blade with a grateful squeeze, and hurried to the door. He threw it open and looked both ways. He vaguely recognized this hallway; he and Sveta had been through this way.

Unfortunately, even with the power he had at his disposal he wasn't sure it would be a good idea to tread the same path as before. Every remaining soldier at the ship would likely be trying to break into the shield generator room at that moment. They weren't on land, so he had limited options when it came to psynergy. They had the ranged advantage, so he couldn't fight them hand-to-hand. Perhaps he could pull off another Megiddo if he was lucky, but Sveta would be nearby – he wanted to save her, not vaporize her.

He decided that his best hope was to try to wreak havoc elsewhere and attempt to draw them off. He started toward the rear of the ship, but this time instead of stopping and heading downstairs, he kept going. The ship seemed to have a bit of a protrusion near the stern anyway. That looked important.

He went down one level to the gunnery floor. Then he went down another to the floor with the generator room. Then he went down a third, just on a whim, and made his way toward the rear, meeting worryingly little resistance.

That was when he found the engine room.

There were massive whirling turbines everywhere. Barrels of who-knew-what were scattered wherever it seemed most inconvenient. There were more gauges, dials, knobs and buttons than Matthew could count. And there were finally a few Tuaparang soldiers who hadn't gone to besiege Sveta.

One of them literally dropped his weapon when he spotted Matthew.

The man ran for an inconspicuous-looking box stuck on the wall and hit a big red button on it.

"He's in the engine room! _Midship engine room, intruder alert!_"

Matthew didn't bother drawing his sword. The dealt with all the other soldiers with a series of Clay Spire strikes, and walked menacingly toward the man who had run for help.

The box crackled, and an unfamiliar voice came forth from it. _"Say again? Who's in the engine room?!"_

Matthew punched the soldier in the jaw, dropping him immediately. Then, on a mischevious whim, he pressed the button too.

"Golly gee, Your Highness," said Matthew, "this stuff sure looks explosive!"

He let go of the button.

Nothing happened for several seconds.

Then the alarm started again, and speakers all over the ship crackled at once.

"_All soldiers, be advised! Intruder in the midship engine room! Repeat, intruder in the midship engine room!"_

Matthew smiled and drew his sword, glancing around for something to move around. He only had a few moments to prepare the battlefield for defense.

* * *

Sveta had heard the explosions, but hadn't made the connection until the shipwide announcement went out. She assumed it was the Tuaparang soldiers trying to break in and reactivate the shields, and she was nearly panicking; her barricade was woefully inadequate, and she was nearly exhausted from holding the door shut with her own strength.

The warning klaxons started blaring, and the pounding on her door stopped at once.

"She must have found another way out!" said someone on the other side.

"Downstairs, after her!" said another. "Hurry!"

She waited and caught her breath until they were out of earshot, then moved the barricade aside and wandered into the hallway. She could hear sounds of conflict below.

Her heart raced with fear. Someone had followed her onto the ship. Some fool had decided she shouldn't have to die alone, and had put the others at risk by doing so.

She suspected she knew which fool it was.

* * *

Fighting defensively was easier than attacking head-on would have been, but that just meant that it was a few extra minutes before Matthew was on the ropes. He had several cuts from where crossbow bolts had grazed him, though nothing had struck him directly just yet. There were bodies all over, but the enemy just kept coming. They were fanatics.

He threw out his senses, picking up what seemed like the beacons of hundreds of souls in the hallway around him, all trying to force their way in. It meant he could sense when someone was about to try to rush the door – one of them, at least, as he had quickly discovered that the engine room was big enough to have multiple entrances.

Without even aiming, Matthew sent another Odyssey pattern in the direction of the closest doorway. The spell was designed to be used against a single target, but he found that by spacing out the sword-strikes, it was also useful to deny an area to the enemy. One soul that had been preparing to charge in suddenly winked out, and the others backed off. But another group made for the door a few metres to his right.

He cursed and ran to intercept them, feeling the Sol Blade thrum with energy. The door flew open, and he swung the sword, sweeping the area with Radiant Fire. Then he reached out and pulled the door closed.

A bolt shot by just before the door was shut. Though it didn't impact, it cut through his sleeve and drew a sharp line of pain across his upper arm. He cried out and put a hand to the wound. It came away bloody.

"I probably should have put more thought into this," he said to himself.

The soldiers at the other door were starting to organize again. But Matthew was getting tired. He couldn't keep darting from place to place, fighting an enemy with better numbers and equipment. And he had already checked for alternate exits. None existed.

That was when he felt a surge of psynergy from somewhere nearby. Almost immediately after, he heard a howl.

Then he heard a loud _thump,_ and felt about ten of his assailants' spirits fizzle out.

He peeked through the nearest door – the one he had just closed – and there she was. Like a whirlwind in the shape of a wolf, she tore through the enemy numbers. Her long claws tossed aside whole groups of enemies at once, and she still had room to throw out indiscriminate bolts of lightning.

With his enemies distracted, Matthew circled around and jumped out the other exit sword-first. He was not as efficient as Sveta was, but it was close. The Tuaparang autocrossbows were worthless in close range. In a flash, the storm of sword and claw brought the entire army to its knees.

Matthew finished off the last man. Sveta shapeshifted back to her normal form.

And then she dove at him.

He dropped the Sol Blade on impact, and she followed through to pin him to the wall. Tears streamed down her face.

She slapped him. Hard. "Matthew, you _idiot!_" she cursed. Then she kissed him. Then she slapped him again.

"Oww," he replied. "Nice to see you too. Thanks for coming to help-"

"Why?!" she shouted. "Why did you come back?" She hugged him tightly enough that he wasn't sure whether it was supposed to be affectionate or hostile. It could have been both. "You fool, you idiot... One of us was enough! We do not both have to die-"

"Yeah!" said Matthew. "Neither of us do!"

"Not if the others destroy the ship!" Sveta squeezed tighter.

"_We can get off!_" choked Matthew. "Felix said there was a way!"

Sveta stopped squeezing. "What?"

"The Empyror's always got a backup plan in case of emergencies," said Matthew. "Of course he's got some way to escape in case this ship goes down. All we have to do is find it before he gets to it."

"But-"

"Yeah, I know you were looking forward to your heroic self-sacrifice and everything, but I'm gonna have to say no," he said. "You're getting a happy ending whether you like it or not. Got it?"

Sveta looked into Matthew's eyes, tears still streaming down her face. She said nothing.

He just smiled at her. "Don't worry about a thing," he said. "You don't need to be alone anymore. We'll help each other escape. Because we're a team, right?"

That did it.

She broke down sobbing, resting her head lightly against his chest. He drew his arms around her gently.

"After all that..." Sveta shook her head. "I am sorry for how I acted. I should not have given up so easily." She backed off and wiped her eyes. "I am ready to go when you are. Lead the way."

Matthew nodded. "For what it's worth, you were right too. I shouldn't have tried to keep you from doing what you wanted to. From now on, go on whatever crazy, suicidal adventures you want... as long as I can come along to make sure you get back in one piece."

She smiled. For Matthew, that made it all worth it.

* * *

Figuring that they had already seen most of the front and middle of the ship, the two decided to start walking toward the rear, checking each level individually until they found what they were looking for.

Their current floor seemed dedicated entirely to keeping the ship in the air. Fuel stores, engine rooms, spare parts... nothing of value in terms of escape. They reached the wall at the very end, and headed up one level.

Almost immediately they found what they were looking for.

The aft end of the ship on the second level seemed to be mostly dormitories, and for a little while, Matthew and Sveta assumed that they were still out of luck. But some distance down the hall, the rooms changed abruptly.

Spartan-looking bunkbeds were replaced with fine leather seats and clear windows. Simple doors made way for solid bulkheads. And, as with seemingly everything on this ship, there were a mysterious array of buttons and doodads in the middle of the far wall.

"Oddly shaped rooms," commented Matthew.

Sveta tapped him on the shoulder and indicated toward a sign hanging from the ceiling.

**- ESCAPE PODS -**

"I cannot believe I would have missed this," said Sveta. "It seems so obvious in retrospect."

Matthew nodded. "I just can't believe it was this easy. I mean, this can't really be it, can it?"

Someone cleared their throat loudly behind them. "AHEM."

They turned to look.

He was a tallish man, completely bald and sporting a goatee. He wore a splendid-looking black robe with red trim, and his hands were covered by odd-looking gauntlets covered in lights and gems. He was clearly not having a good day, as indicated by the bags under his eyes and the jagged cut on his leg. But his grin of unflappable confidence made all of that seem irrelevant.

"Queen Sveta, I presume," said the man. "And you must be Matthew, son of Isaac and Jenna. I am the High Empyror of Tuaparang. You two have caused me quite a bit of trouble, and I fully intend to get even."

He smiled, baring vicious, pointed teeth.

Sveta turned to Matthew and thumped him on the head.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_Gonna apologize for the deceptive wordcount, this felt like a very intuitive place to cut the chapter but there's a huge friggin' review response later on that gets all introspective and philosophical, so that's where a lot of the chapter weight is. Whatevs._

_Writing fight scenes is actually getting to be lots of fun, I need to do it more often. And I'll get a chance to NEXT CHAPTER_

_in the FINAL CHAPTER_

_except the epilogue_

_of DROPS OF JUPITER_

_That's right holy crap guys THE END IS NIGH_

_ARE YOU EXCITED, I'M EXCITED oh god I'll be so glad to have this over with_

_Expect it before the week is out._

_Review Responses:_

_godofmadness43: The Daedalus is kind of big and wide; when I envision the air cruiser, it's shaped a little more like a modern aircraft carrier or battleship, as in long and thin. But in terms of scale, yes, this thing is Daedalus-sized._

_CreationsGoneAwry: Oh crap, if I keep putting people on the edge of their seat somebody's gonna fall off eventually, I'm just a disaster waiting to happen._

_...Aaaand so ends the happy funtime review responses. This is where shit gets real._

_Golden Joe: It seems like I should be feeling defensive, or angry, or even just a little hurt from the wording in your review ("I really hate your story"? Really?), but all I feel is validation. The fact is that every single one of your points is one that I have considered myself on at least one occasion, and I find it completely shocking that no one else has raised them. It's probably because a lot of people stop reading when they dislike something, and don't bother giving criticism; with that in mind, I am genuinely very, very appreciative of you sticking around long enough to give such comprehensive feedback. Thank you!_

_The truth is that I can and WOULD give specific examples and explanations for every single one of your points; I can say why I did something, I can say why it seemed like a good idea at the time, I can say why I regret the shit out of it, and I can say how I've worked to alleviate the damage. If you had a username and profile on this site I'd literally be responding via PM to answer every single point in a bulleted list. I can't do that here without 1) dominating the A/N with a single review response and 2) spoiling a ton of upcoming story for a lot of people, but I can summarize._

_Simply put, DoJ is not the result of an attempt to write a good story. It is what happened when I ended up stranded, alone, in an unfamiliar part of the country for so long that I started to freaking lose it. I needed something to pass the time, something that seemed productive enough to trick myself into thinking it was worthwhile, and DoJ was that thing. For the first 20-or-so chapters, plot elements were written moment-to-moment without even a thought for the bigger picture. When I got bored, instead of stopping, I started planning ahead. Way ahead. I planned plot events that wouldn't happen for a year or more. And when I couldn't do that any more, I planned what would happen to Matthew and Sveta's kids. I planned what would happen to the Warriors of Vale five freaking centuries in the future. And since, by that point, it had become basically an original story tied loosely to the locations and magic system of Golden Sun, I changed direction from making DoJ readable to making it set the stage for my own little playground within somebody else's IP._

_The nature of this website is such that it is very, very difficult to edit a story properly. I don't mean proofreading and technical issues; those are easy enough. But posting chapters as they're done means that you can't go back and remove plot elements. A card laid is a card played. That means that at chapter 71, I'm stuck with something like 12 central characters, each with plot and character arcs that demanded resolution. At least one of them serves no purpose but to set up a throwaway joke in a sequel._

_In my own defense, if I were to take each character's plot arc and write it as if it were its own story, some of the more egregious issues would be less obvious. If I had a story just about Isaac and Jenna's marriage, with the whole Tuaparang thing happening on the sidelines, it would read better; if the story was about Rief growing more independent, or helping Maddie to get over her issues, then it would feel better-focused. The main problem, I believe, is that DoJ is a story made of too many stories. Like in real life, a series of unrelated incidents take place at around the same time in around the same location, and they influence each other in unexpected ways. It inflates the story's size, it introduces redundancies, and it obscures what would be completely reasonable plot arcs. If I were to rewrite the story to just have Matthew and Sveta's perspective, it would likely be under 40k words; instead you have this mess that is longer than any single Lord of the Rings book, longer than any single Twilight book, and when it is finished, will be longer than any single Harry Potter book (edging out Order of the Phoenix by only a few thousand words)._

_If you want, I'd be more than happy to discuss all this over PMs, but that isn't necessarily essential. It's just that despite this page-and-a-half long response, I haven't actually directly addressed any of your points and I do have solid answers to every single one. If you're interested, I can tell you, but some of them are also spoilery (still) and thus not great to leave out in the open like this._

_Thanks for the feedback, and while I'm sorry the story isn't living up to your expectations, I really appreciate you telling me why! Point of interest, I was recently contacted by someone who read the story over a year ago and mentioned having to catch up; I literally told them not to bother because the story is a complete mess. That's how I feel about it, and I am very, VERY happy that there is only one chapter + epilogue left._


	72. Soulmates

_**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**_

* * *

The Empyror stood, augmentation-gauntlets on each of his outstretched arms. Psynergy quietly pulsed from him, but he didn't appear to be making any immediate movements.

"Sveta," said Matthew, "run to an escape pod. I'll cover you. Don't wait for me."

She glared at him. "Hypocrite. No, I believe our position is clear on the matter of self-sacrifice, is it not?"

He smirked. She had a point.

He held his sword at the ready. She stood in her fighting stance. The Empyror stared on, holding both his hands out as if preparing to strike.

No one moved. The only noise was the sound of the engines thrumming beneath them, and the alarm klaxon still sounding throughout the ship's corridors. The Empyror's gauntlets glowed and blinked softly with power. The Sol Blade hummed in anticipation. Sveta growled quietly.

It wasn't exactly a standoff – or at least, it shouldn't have been.

"What the hell are you waiting for?" called Matthew. "Do you want something from us?"

The Empyror shook his head. His fingers were wiggling very slowly, like he was tying knots underwater. "Nah, just keep standing there arguing. That's alright."

Matthew and Sveta looked at each other in surprise. Then without further ado, Matthew darted forward sword-first.

The Empyror's left hand shifted subtly and a brilliant beam of pure light shot out of it, striking the ground in front of Matthew's feet. Matthew hopped back a step to safety. He felt the heat rise off of the spot the light had struck, a scorched tile marking the line he had unintentionally crossed.

Matthew held back, holding his action and watching to see what the Empyror did next, but no follow-up came.

Except for a patronizing smirk, of course.

Matthew feigned a step forward, moving his foot just past the smoking tile. The Empyror fired another beam at the ground, just beneath Matthew's foot. Matthew hopped back again.

The Empyror smiled, and quietly drew a scorching beam in a solid line – the line Matthew would have to cross to reach him.

"What, is this some kind of game to you?" asked Matthew. He tried stepping to the side, around the line, but the Empyror zapped there, too.

Matthew looked at Sveta, who appeared to be just as confused as he was. She took a hesitant step toward the nearest escape pod entrance.

"Ah, not so fast!" called the Empyror, zapping another line across those exits, too. "I'm not letting you get away that easily."

With a sigh, Matthew put away his sword. "Okay, how are we gonna do this?" he asked Sveta. "We could try both going at the same time. Or you could hit him with lightning or something."

"I have two hands, you know," interrupted the Empyror. "And how do you know I won't break the standoff if you attempt ranged combat?"

"What, then?!" shouted Sveta. "We cannot attack, we cannot flee. You will not speak to us, so you clearly are not after anything specific. Do you expect us to die of starvation? Or perhaps boredom?"

"It's a puzzle," replied the Empyror. "I thought you lot were into that sort of thing. I'll let you work it out."

Matthew and Sveta glared at him.

He smirked. "Or would you like a hint?" he finally said after another half-minute of silence.

"Please," answered Matthew.

The Empyror nodded. "As you wish."

He ceased his finger-twitching for just a moment to gesture to the halls around them. "My city, my people, my technology, my power... all these things I have worked so very hard to create during these thirty years of my life. It has been hard, harder than I expect you two to appreciate. And then, on the very cusp of my ultimate victory, it was all snatched away from me.

"You destroyed my city. You wiped out my people overnight. I am the last of the Tuaparang, but I have not given up my ambitions, no! And I believe that death would be too lenient of a punishment for you!"

"So you're just going to sit there and do nothing?" asked Matthew. "Mildly inconveniencing us, yeah, that's a way harsher punishment than death-"

"You have made one incorrect assumption," said the Empyror.

Matthew paused. The Empyror continued to wiggle his fingers in the air on the other side of the scorched line.

"Well?" said Matthew. "Are you gonna continue, or...?"

The Empyror shook his head.

Matthew looked around. Harsher punishment than death? He couldn't see torture-type things around. If it was another psynergy drain system, Sveta could get out of it easily, Matthew would barely be inconvenienced, and the Empyror would be in the blast radius too. If there were no other soldiers on the ship, that meant that the guns wouldn't be firing, which meant that the others in the airship wouldn't even be in any danger.

"Sveta," said Matthew, "can you read him from there?"

Sveta began to shake her head, but before she could speak, the Empyror gave a growl of frustration. They both turned to look at him.

He threw his arms in the air. "Okay, it's really simple! You honestly can't figure it out? Neither of you?"

"You are stalling for something," said Sveta. "I can see that much."

"Well, I was hoping to be able to see the look of horrified realization on your faces as you figured it out yourselves..." said the Empyror. "Alright, one more hint. You, uh... boy." He pointed at Matthew. "Tell me. Why did you put away your sword?"

"Huh? I didn't..." Matthew hesitated, glancing down at his hands. It was true. They were empty. In fact, he vaguely remembered putting the blade away in the middle of the conversation. Why would he have done that? It was a very stupid and potentially fatal thing to do in the presence of an enemy, even one who didn't seem to be attacking.

The Empyror smiled and nodded. "Ah, but you did. That doesn't seem like something you'd normally do, does it? Oh, and here's something else: _kneel._"

Without thinking, Matthew knelt. He knelt so fast that part of him thought he was falling, so he threw out his hands to catch himself and ended up kneeing himself in the chest.

He was a little winded and very disoriented, but – with an odd feeling of regret and shame – he managed to pull himself back to his feet and return to his fighting stance. He gripped the handle of the Sol Blade, but did not unsheath it.

"You had Felix with you, and you initially sent a party of Mars Adepts to defeat me," said the Empyror to a very shaky-looking Matthew and a shocked Sveta. "so I assume you already know of my unique talents. Which is why I find it odd that you're resisting at all. You should have known, both of you, that the moment you set foot on my ship, you were mine. Kneel."

This time, Matthew couldn't muster the willpower to stand back up. He saw out the corner of his eye – since his gaze was glued to the floor – that Sveta had knelt as well.

A fate worse than death. Indoctrination. That was why he had been stalling – to slowly wear them down and take control. And they had fallen for it.

It took all of his strength to turn and look toward Sveta. She was shuddering.

She closed her eyes. She tried to speak, but something seemed to be holding her back. After a long struggle, she finally managed to get one word out – possibly her last word as a free-thinking being. "Sorry."

The Empyror approached her – her specifically, not Matthew. The Venus Adept felt an involuntary twinge of sadness and envy at that, followed by a shot of cheer. _She makes me happy, so the Empyror deserves to have her too! Everything good that I have should belong to him._ With that thought, Matthew settled himself and let the comforting warmth of the Empyror's psynergy wash over him through and through.

"You, girl – Sveta, was it?" asked the Empyror. Her head craned up to look at him and she smiled broadly. "Yes, that was it," continued His Highness. "The Queen of Morgal. I had almost forgotten. I sent Felix to collect you just the other day, didn't I? Better late than never, I suppose."

The Empyror glanced over at Matthew, who immediately returned his gaze to the floor. He wasn't worthy.

"You two meant something to each other, didn't you?" he said. "That's why he came down here after you. Very heroic. You must be touched." Matthew peeked out to the side again. The Empyror was hunched down, eye-to-eye with Sveta, cradling her chin gently with one hand. "I'm sorry to say that there's no room for him in the new Tuaparang Empire. You must make a choice: would you rather be with him, or with me?"

Sveta didn't even glance in Matthew's direction. He understood; he was trash, after all, wasn't he? It pleased him to know that he would soon be removed, clearing the way for the Empyror's reign. It was the way of things. Why fight it?

"Morgal will be my new staging area," continued the Empyror. "You will rule your people by my word. The beastmen will die by the thousands in pointless wars to establish my grand nation, and they will love me for it. Weyard will be mine, just as you are mine, Sveta. You will be very useful to me..." He paused, a smile coming to his face as his eyes traced her form. "In more ways than one."

He took his hand away, and Sveta seemed to stumble. She had been leaning into him close and closer over the course of his monologue. His voice was riveting.

"But before that, we have work to do," said His Highness. "I need you to prove your loyalty. Do your nation a favor... murder your boyfriend."

In an instant, Matthew was on his back. Sveta's hands were... hugging his neck? Yes, that was it. The beautiful embrace of the Tuaparang, in her fingers.

"Good," said the Empyror, sending a thrill down Matthew's spine as his body screamed for air. "Choke the life out of him. Look deep into his eyes as you kill him, knowing how much you used to care for one another. And if there's anything left of either of you... I hope you realize exactly what's going on. Sink into your despair. Drown in it."

Matthew didn't resist. His vision began to darken, and every instinct screamed at him to squirm a bit, or fight back, or do something, anything, for air. But all he did was stare into Sveta's eyes. She was doing her job. He was doing his.

She had a serene smile that belied her grip. Her eyes had that sort of half-lidded happiness to them, the kind normally brought about by a relaxing evening with friends around a campfire. She was the picture of contentment.

But even so, Matthew saw pain there. He wondered why.

It was becoming difficult to think, but he still tried to figure it out. Why would someone be sad while following the Empyror's wishes? Did she still feel some sentimentality?

_She loves you, you goon. And she loves you too. He's doing awful things to her, why are you letting this continue unabated?_

Where did that come from? Was he hallucinating due to suffocation? That was a good sign. Right? Kind of?

_There's not much time left. Get out. Save yourself, and save her._

The voice from deep inside Matthew's head – deep, _deep_ inside – was flat-out wrong. Neither of them needed to be saved-

_She doesn't want to kill you. Don't you see? He's forcing her to hurt you because he knows what it will do to her. She'll break. She'll give up._

He couldn't see much anymore. His vision was blurry, and he was starting to black out. But he felt a drop of wetness on his cheek. A tear...? Why? Of course she wanted to obey His Highness... didn't she?

_There's still a way to find out._

Yes. Of course.

He raised his hands through the haze and rested them gently on hers, and then he reached within himself and _pushed..._

* * *

The boy went limp, and Sveta let go.

"Huh," said the Empyror. "That didn't take too long."

His new pet stood and backed away. Her head was still angled slightly toward the ground; he couldn't get a good look at her face. But the boy definitely looked dead, or at least unconscious.

"Alright, I'm just gonna make sure he's finished. You head over to the guns and shoot down the airship, then meet me back in my chambers," said the Empyror. "We need to get properly acquainted."

She didn't immediately jump at his command, which he found odd. In fact, she didn't seem to hear him at all. She just stared into space.

He threw another hit of indoctrination at her. "Did you hear me? Go shoot down the ship with all your old friends on it, and then come to my room. You aren't planning to keep me waiting, are you?"

But again she didn't respond. She stood and breathed and stared, and occasionally twitched a finger.

He cautiously took a step toward her. Was something wrong? Did he overdo it? With his hands held out slightly, ready to cast defensively, he approached. He bent down to get a closer look at her face.

Her expression was completely neutral. Her eyes were wide. The only thing of note, really, was the weak shimmering of her golden irises.

Funny, he hadn't noticed that earlier.

* * *

They had shared souls twice before, once very recently, and that meant that they had a pretty good idea of how it felt to be one, to touch each other's minds and simply coexist. They could spot any difference, no matter how insignificant. But it didn't take an expert to see that something had changed for each of them. Matthew and Sveta's minds had been altered somehow, and the differences stuck out like spots of dark paint on a pure white wall.

It made it difficult for them to synchronize properly. So for a short time, their minds stood apart, looking at each other in the mental landscape.

Sveta approached the part of Matthew's soul that contained his loyalties; his relationships; his personal associations; his identity. Slapped haphazardly over it was a wide block that said "Obey the High Empyror above all else!" It looked wrong. It just didn't fit. So Sveta stripped it off and threw it away.

Matthew saw the things that made Sveta happy. Before, it had held a rainbow of simple pleasures. Strawberries. A warm bed after a long trip. A gentle rain. Now, draped across it was the general concept of "Tuaparang." He crumpled it up and tossed it.

Sveta looked at Matthew's motivations. "Serve the Empyror" sat atop it all. She got rid of it.

Matthew moved toward Sveta's hopes. "Please the Empyror" covered it up. He erased it.

On and on it went, as they fixed what was wrong, changing things to the way they each knew it should be. It was like weeding a garden, or cleaning up litter. Each little victory contributed to the greater whole, and before long it all started to look right again.

The difficulty arose when Matthew saw Sveta's fears. He tossed away the layer of "Failing Tuaparang," but there was a more solid, natural cover beneath it: her traumatic fear of wind. It had grown organically; it was a natural part of her. That meant that it could not be removed as easily as the elements of indoctrination. What Matthew did manage to do was reduce it. He shrank it, and cut out as much as he could without damaging her psyche. But the fear remained, by and large, when he finally turned away from it and moved to the next section.

It only took a minute or so to fix everything. By the end, Matthew and Sveta, each looking at the other's mind, saw perfection.

They knew each other inside and out. And they found nothing wanting.

Their work complete, they reached out and joined together.

* * *

Sveta collapsed.

The Empyror jumped back in surprise. He hadn't really expected that. Maybe he HAD broken her mind. He hadn't tried his techniques on beastmen before, not really. That was one of the things he'd been hoping to experiment with when he had Felix kidnap Sveta in the first place.

A broken toy was no big deal – a disappointment, surely, as it would now be a lonely trip back to the mainland – but he made sure to stand back and watch for a moment. Something didn't seem right.

He waited a few seconds, hands outstretched. She didn't move.

He let his guard down for a moment.

* * *

_Now_.

It all happened in a single smooth motion.

With their strength enhanced by both djinn and by their bond, they pushed off the ground with their hands. They flew in the direction of the Empyror, directly over Matthew's limp shell.

They brought their legs up and beneath them. And at the same time, their right hand caught the handle of the Sol Blade, drawing the massive two-handed sword from its sheath. They held it in a reverse grip as they landed, standing up nearly straight a foot away from the Empyror, and rammed the hilt of the weapon into his gut.

He doubled over. Then Matthew and Sveta's left hand launched out, taking him hard in the temple and spinning him around halfway. And then they plunged the tip of the sword into the floor and used it as leverage as they threw their feet out in a two-legged kick, propelling him down the hallway like a cannonball.

They watched him land and bounce. By the time he stopped moving, they had shifted into beastform. They picked up the Sol Blade, carrying the massive greatsword easily in one hand, and sprinted after him.

The Empyror picked himself up and fired a lance of light at them. They dodged aside easily. He swept another beam along the floor, and they vaulted over it. He summoned a brilliant spot of light, an expanding spot of heat, and they just plowed through it like it wasn't there.

Then they reached him. They jumped and swung the Sol Blade. He tumbled under the attack, ending up behind them, and tried to punch them in the back with a desperate fist. They used their momentum, however, following through and spinning out of the way, bringing the sword back in line for another attack.

The Sol Blade flew out again, and this time the Empyror had no time to dodge. He brought his hands up to block, and only the high-tech gauntlets saved him. The force of the blow still slammed him against the wall. He took advantage of the extra push, caught his footing as he bounced, and bolted toward the escape pods and Matthew's prone form.

He should never have been able to outrun Matthew and Sveta in beastform, but perhaps his dominion over the time-related aspects of Light Psynergy gave him a boost. He moved faster than any human should have been able to, jumped over Matthew's body, and reached the long row of escape pods.

But all along, Matthew and Sveta had been riding the wind. Sveta had long ago taught herself to propel herself forward along gusts of air, a technique she employed in her famous Speed Punch. Their energy was enhanced by their spiritual bond. The power output of their djinn enhanced it even further.

This meant that when the Empyror glanced over his shoulder to see how much time he had before they reached him, all he saw was a hurricane, at the head of which was a massive wolf-beast wielding a brilliant, golden two-handed sword.

Matthew and Sveta felt the sword thrum with power. Its pulse began to rise, as if with excitement. They added their own energy to the chorus of power, pouring it in harder and harder as the blade began to shine.

They raised the sword above their head, and a miniature sun began to form.

They brought it down-

-and there was a flash of light.

* * *

_Oh gods, that was close,_ thought the Empyror. When his djinni stopped time, as he had just now, the world looked strangely greyscale, as if the color itself was waiting for the clock to start ticking again. Even so, the artificial sun that that beast's sword had summoned was shining almost as brightly as the real thing. In another few milliseconds, it would be plunging into the very spot he had occupied.

But he got away. Again. He was tired – oh, so very tired – and the fact that his djinni was now on standby made it even worse. But he was triumphant.

He only had a few seconds of frozen time, but he only needed an instant to end it. So he gloated.

"Look at you," he said to the beast, knowing full well that she would never hear him. "You thought you stood a chance. Even after you broke through my indoctrination somehow, you still thought you could beat me in a fight. But I have plan after plan, and when one fails I simply bring another to bear."

Then he brought his hands up. The gauntlets no longer flickered; he supposed they had been ruined by that sword. But it didn't matter at this range.

It was over. He had won. He had won long ago, in fact, and it was about damn time they realized it.

He gritted his teeth. "Rot in hell," he said to the frozen Sveta, "you _impudent bitch!_" And he drew together all of his psynergy-

And nothing happened.

He paused.

He tried again. Nothing happened. Fire should have been coming out but _fire wasn't coming out._ What was wrong?

"Burn, dammit!" he shouted desperately. He snapped his fingers a few times. It didn't help. "BURN!"

_**Oh, gods above. Did you run out of psynergy?**_

It was his djinni speaking. Halo. Somehow it could communicate with him despite stopping the entire world at once.

_**You've been abusing my power for frivolous purposes. You've travelled through time on multiple occasions with barely a rest in between. Do you have any concept of psynergy upkeep? Any at all?**_

"Wait," said the Empyror, "you can _run out of psynergy?!_"

He felt the world itching to return to normal speed. The bubble wouldn't hold for much longer.

The Empyror ran screaming for the nearest escape pod and mashed the launch button repeatedly until time unfroze.

* * *

Perhaps it had been a bad idea to attack in that exact manner.

Sure, if the Empyror hadn't stopped time, he would have been caught in it. He escaped the attack by cheating, in a sense. They couldn't be faulted for that. It should have beaten him. Really.

But then it would have gone through him and continued on, much like it ACTUALLY did after he escaped. He would have provided very little resistance.

The floor provided very little resistance as well.

And unfortunately for Matthew and Sveta, the room immediately below them was the aft engine room which, as Matthew had previously stated, was full of all kinds of materials just waiting to burst into flames.

* * *

There was a lot of noise and a lot of air. They jumped backward in reflex, which was one of two things that saved them from the massive gout of flame that came forth from the hole they had just made in the floor.

The other thing that saved them was the fact that the entire ship broke in half around that hole. So the fire had more places to go than just down the hallway.

Unfortunately, Matthew and Sveta had no time to appreciate their luck, as it were, as the ship sheering in half caused a whole new set of problems. Namely, the fact that it was now spinning wildly through space and no longer flying particularly well without an engine room. They barely managed to keep their head(s) as the world spun around them. The floor was now the ceiling and the walls were constantly changing places.

They pushed off the nearest surface and moved down the hall toward what seemed to be safety. At the very least, it was the opposite direction from the giant hole in the middle of everything. It was then that they noticed a huge, metal wall – a blast door – beginning to close a few feet away. Another few seconds and it would seal them out.

They summoned a gust of air and blew toward it as fast as possible. On the way, they passed Matthew's body; they grabbed it with their left hand, almost as a second thought, and tossed it in in front of them. They followed immediately after, careening through the too-small space between the blast door and what used to be the floor.

Then there was a sharp tug on their head. They turned and looked behind them. They vaguely acknowledged through the world's lack of direction that one of their braids had gotten caught beneath the blast door.

Behind them, Matthew's body was bouncing off walls left and right. Sveta's body – containing both their spirits, of course – was behaving similarly, but it was anchored to the door by her tight braid. It was rather painful.

In desperation, they swung the Sol Blade, severing the braid and setting them free.

They idly thought for a moment of how dangerous it would be to have a sword bouncing around at a time like this, and stuck it as deep as they could into the nearest wall as they passed.

And then their shapeshift ended, the djinn exhausted, and Sveta struck a wall very hard.

Their spirits were forced apart. Everything went dark for them both.

* * *

From the perspective of the airship, things went rather differently.

There was a very long wait, punctuated by the occasional realization that a cannon had stopped firing. Then there was another long wait. And then an escape pod launched and everything started to explode.

The pod had been launched off the side of the cruiser that faced Angara, luckily. It was aimed in no particular direction but seemed to be banking slightly toward Mt Aleph. Assuming that Matthew had been successful in extracting Sveta, the rest of the group made a note to go collect them later on, after they had landed and repaired the airship to the point where it was safe to fly again.

Felix kept watch out the window, however. He knew the Empyror too well to believe it had all gone smoothly.

And sure enough, one of the chunks of cruiser that hit the ocean sprouted massive, inflatable airbags, keeping it above the surface. It was the rear section, which likely contained the main living areas, based on what Felix knew of similar Tuaparang designs.

Plans within plans. That man even included a feature that would save him in case he couldn't make it to an escape pod in time.

Felix decided he would tell the others later.

* * *

Matthew woke up in a soft, comfy bed, and it took him almost a full minute to realize how wrong that was.

The last thing he remembered before passing out was the ship crashing. Why was he even still alive?

He tried to sit up, only to feel an intense pain shoot through him. Broken ribs, most likely. He sucked in air through his teeth, but didn't shout. He laid back down.

His chest had been bandaged, at least. Someone had taken care of him while he was passed out. And that was when he noticed the lumps in the blankets next to him.

"Oh good," said Sveta, "you seem to have recovered quite well. You were unconscious for perhaps an hour longer than I was. How do you feel?"

She had a bandage wrapped around her head with a small spot of blood on it where she had struck the wall. Aside from that, she looked perfectly fine... though her expression made Matthew feel very worried indeed. If she had been awake for an hour already, then she would have had some time to think, and from the impish look on her face, there was a plot in motion.

"I'm feeling very confused," he said, "and everything hurts. We made it out okay, right? How'd we get here?"

Sveta explained what had happened from when she woke up until the present. There wasn't much to tell; she had a mild concussion, but Matthew had been injured more severely in the crash, so once she got her bearings and made sure the ship wouldn't sink, she carried him to the only two-person bed she could find, opened up a first-aid kit that she found stashed nearby, and settled in next to him after binding his wounds.

"By the way," she said, "I advise against trying to move your left leg."

"Why, what-" began Matthew. But then he thoughtlessly tried to move his leg, and pain overwhelmed him. He shouted.

"You broke it in the crash. I fashioned a rudimentary splint for it – nothing fancy, but at this way it should heal properly on its own. Unfortunately, you will not be leaving this bed any time soon. It seems you will need to rely on me to bring you food and water, and to take care of you." She grinned. "So you had best do exactly as I say."

She put a hand on his head and filled him with healing psynergy. It didn't mend his wounds, but it allowed him to ignore the pain and to think through it. He relaxed himself and tried to move as little as possible. It made things a little better, but not much.

Physically, at least, she seemed much better off than he was. But the events immediately prior to the crash came back to him. Had they really managed to shake off the Empyror's indoctrination together? That should have been the end. But they pulled it off, and in a way that no other couple could have done. They had been very, very lucky.

"How about you?" asked Matthew. "I know you said you weren't badly hurt, but... how are you holding up? Any residual, uh, badness?"

Her smile faded. "I am fine," she said. "He holds no more sway over me."

She moved in closer and _gently_ wrapped her arms around him. "That was so awful," she said. "The entire time, I realized what was going on. I was merely helpless to resist it. He made me subservient to him. The things he made me think about, I worry what he would have done to me after... after you were gone." She buried her face in his shoulder. "Gods, he made me try to murder you. He almost succeeded. The impulse was so powerful and so terrifying. I pray never to experience something like that ever again."

Matthew nodded. His neck still ached a little. He suspected he'd have bruises for a while. "Well, don't worry about that," he said, "the Empyror's gone now. He's never coming back. We're safe now, just you and I. We can go home, and everything will be back to normal."

As he said the words, though, he realized that he had no idea what normal meant anymore.

Before they had gone on this journey, they lived apart. Matthew was in Kalay, Sveta was in Morgal. Could they really go back to that now? After all they had been through, could they really stand to limit their interactions to the occasional visit? There was no "normal." It was their job now to set a new standard, to make "normal" what they wanted it to be.

What did they want? Was there even an option that worked?

Sveta's expression told him that she was thinking along the same lines. "I am not certain normal is where I want to go just yet," she said. "Maybe... well, assuming we get off this ship, we should take a break from our responsibilities." Sveta's responsibilities, of course. Matthew had next to none. "We need to explore our options. And I would like to spend some time with you. _Alive._"

"You're right. We just made it out of a situation that could easily have ended in disaster," said Matthew. "We should really be celebrating, shouldn't we? Sorry I'm in no fit shape for a proper party. But at least we can try to keep the conversation a little more upbeat."

He paused. "Well, one last thing. How do you know we aren't sinking?"

Sveta smiled, and sat up straight. Upon realizing that she had abandoned her borrowed clothing – she was stripped down to her undergarments – Matthew looked away in reflex, blushing brightly.

"Just come look," she said. "There is a window directly above the bed." But when he hesitated to turn around again, she continued. "Oh, _grow up._ We are far, far past that. Besides, I suspect we will be the sole residents of this ship for quite some time. You had best get used to my company in close quarters."

He nodded. She had a point. He slowly turned his head back around to face her.

And there was just something about that image.

She was propping herself up on one arm, sitting halfway out of the covers. Clad only in her underwear, she was showing a lot of skin – fur, rather – but she wasn't trying to be sultry or seductive about it. She was very natural about it. Her facial expression matched it perfectly; her eyelids were drooping from exhaustion, but she had a solid, contented smile. Her unnaturally long ears stuck out to either side, narrowing to a point to enhance her exotic looks. One of her distinctive braids was cut midway down, and the hairs were frayed out like a ruined rope. It looked very odd, and she would likely fix it later when she had the chance.

But for now the entire package just highlighted her. She wasn't trying to look good for anyone. She wasn't trying to show off. It was just her. It was the Sveta he knew, through and through.

He fell in love with her all over again.

"You know," he said, "I don't think I mind being stuck here. Not if I've got you around."

She grinned and stuck out her tongue, and squeezed her cleavage together mockingly, leaning over him in a teasing manner.

He just smiled softly at her.

And that made her blush and shrink back again, pulling the sheets up after a moment's consideration. Yes, that was his Sveta alright: daring and adventurous, but only until she realized what she was doing. He laughed, and she blushed harder.

"I have decided to be flattered by your attention," she said with more confidence than her body language indicated. "Lucky you. But I really would like you to see something with me. Do you feel able to sit up straight? Do you need any help?"

He tried sitting up, and though there were some sharp twinges of pain, he eventually managed it. With his broken leg, it took some careful movement and repositioning to get them both looking comfortably out the window at the head of the bed.

They appeared to be at the highest point of the ship, or what was left of it. Matthew could see the hull mostly submerged in the great ocean, and though he could imagine what it would have looked like before the ship exploded, it ended abruptly at a point not too far from the base of the tower. There, he saw what he thought Sveta had been trying to point out to him. There were large, inflated sacs surrounding the ship's remains. Somehow, an emergency system had activated, keeping the living areas safe despite the escape pods being inaccessible. The Empyror had likely intended it for himself as a worst-case scenario failsafe.

"Oh, I see!" said Matthew. "I guess they have a kitchen and food storage somewhere on a different level then, or a galley I guess -"

Sveta shook her head. "Shh," she said, pointing out across the ocean. "Watch with me."

The skies were beginning to lighten. It occurred to Matthew that they had been out and awake the entire night. And then he realized what he was watching for. He waited quietly, a reverent hush spreading between the two of them.

He reached out and took Sveta's hand as the first rays of light crept up over the horizon.

Sunrise.

Matthew respected the silence for almost a full 60 seconds before he spoke. "Well, I guess we can tick that one off the relationship checklist. 'Watch a sunrise together.' Romantic, no?"

Leaning over and pecking him on the cheek, Sveta smiled. "Very. And on a private cruise ship, no less. You treat me so well, Matthew, but you should really hold some back for our honeymoon."

Matthew raised an eyebrow. "Sveta," he said, "was that a _joke?_"

She shrugged and smiled. "You must be rubbing off on me. I suppose I have been doing a lot of thinking... much of my propriety comes from my upbringing, my training to be a 'proper princess.' Now I get to decide who I want to be, and I think I would like to experiment."

Matthew nodded in approval.

Then Sveta shifted uncomfortably. "...Though I suppose," she said, "that that was not entirely a joke."

"Hmm?" asked Matthew. "About what, a honeymoon? Or..."

Sveta cleared her throat. "This is somewhat of a boat now, is it not?" she asked. "A seafaring vessel and whatnot. Do you agree? Can we classify it as such?"

"Well, I guess," said Matthew. "I'm not sure why that matters, but... yeah, sure."

"May I be captain?"

This time he just laughed. "Sure!" he said. "Sveta, you can be captain of our two-person crew on this immobile, awkward boat in the middle of nowhere. May your reign be long and successful."

Sveta nodded seriously, and stared out the window at the sunrise in a way that made Matthew very uncomfortable.

"I spent some time speaking with Eoleo on our adventure," she said. "Champa is a very interesting nation. They live so differently from any other people I have encountered, purely from the necessity of their lifestyle. Honorable pirates, if the two words can even be used together."

Matthew shrugged. Eoleo was a pretty great guy, and Matthew was admittedly beginning to regret how little time he spent getting to know his friends when he had the chance. But where was Sveta going with this?

"They have a great number of unique traditions," said Sveta. "Their laws are somewhat questionable in some cases, but valid in their own way. Do you agree?"

"Agree? Yeah, I guess," said Matthew. "Why?"

"So you agree that Champan traditions are perhaps equally valid outside of the nation of Champa," she said.

"Well..." Matthew paused. "Some of them, yeah. I'm still not a big fan of the ones that involve stealing from other people. But sure, Champan traditions are great as long as they don't involve theft, rape or murder."

"Very well," said Sveta. She swallowed, and took several breaths to steady herself. Then she hopped out of bed and circled to Matthew's side, standing very regally in front of him.

She cleared her throat. "As captain of this ship," she said, "the one on which we currently reside, which as of yet has no name... I now pronounce us husband and wife. You may kiss the bride." She bent forward, closed her eyes, and puckered her lips.

Matthew stared blankly.

"...Huh?" was all he managed to get out.

"Champan tradition," explained Sveta, opening her eyes and un-puckering her lips. She remained bent over, though, and her face was very close to his. "Many nations require a religious authority to officiate a wedding. Champans only require a captain, and anyone may name themselves captain if no other crewmembers dispute their authority. Which means this is entirely legal by Champan law. Kiss." She closed her eyes again and edged just a little closer.

"Whoa, umm!" Matthew backed away, sending shots of pain up his leg and over his chest, but his sudden panic overrode any sensation. "I think this is a little fast!" he shouted. "I'm not sure I agree to this yet-"

"Consent is not required in a Champan wedding," said Sveta very calmly. "Pirate weddings, Matthew. They are refreshingly straightforward. Kiss the bride."

"We've been dating for a week! This is way, way too early to get married!"

Sveta sighed. "I was afraid you would say that," she said. "I might once have agreed, but... again, I have done a lot of thinking. A lot." She sat down beside him, but was no longer obviously trying to kiss (and thus marry) him. Still, he made sure to keep his guard up.

"Why do most people wait to get married?" she asked, though her tone implied that it was rhetorical. "Beyond the fact that it is a societal norm, I mean. I suspect it is because the couple must get to know each other first, and get comfortable with one another. They must feel confident in their ability to get along over an extended period. Do you think we have that?"

Matthew hesitated before answering, but only because he knew he was in dangerous territory. "We shared souls, Sveta," he said. "I know everything about you, and you know everything about me. I can't imagine us having any serious conflicts. But still-"

"Alright, look at it from another angle, then," continued Sveta. "Imagine, hypothetically, that you married someone who was not me. By extension, I suppose I would be marrying someone else too. Just imagine something happened between us, a fight or something, that made us decide not to stay together."

The idea was weird, obviously; it never felt normal imagining oneself in a relationship with someone completely different. Matthew tried, though. He imagined some nondescript wife, and imagined loving her very much. He imagined some Prince Consort for Sveta, whom he was absolutely not jealous of. And then he imagined the two couples meeting.

"You'd still be special to me," he said honestly. "Even if it wasn't romantically. Even if I tried to convince myself that wasn't the case. Again, we shared souls. That meant something. You understand me better than anyone, and I know you better than anyone." He looked away. "I guess we'll never really be apart, will we? Not that I mind, but... you have a point. We shared souls. We kind of have to end up together, in a way."

Sveta nodded. "So you agree, then, that there is a very strong likelihood that we will eventually be married, even if it does not happen right now." She sighed. "I cannot debate your reluctance to marry this early in the relationship, however. It is your decision as much as it is mine. My feeling is that there is no point in waiting, but you obviously feel differently."

"I... maybe," said Matthew. "I mean, when you put it that way... it does seem kind of stupid to wait, doesn't it? I just don't think everyone else will see it like you do. If the others came to pick us up and we got hitched behind their backs, there'd be hell to pay, don't you think?"

She nodded again. "I suppose."

They were both silent for several seconds.

"New plan, then," said Sveta. "What if we just told no-one? We hold our Champan-style wedding, get used to thinking of ourselves as an official couple, and then act as if nothing happened when we return to the mainland. Eventually, we hold the public wedding... or not, if we change our minds." Her eyes widened. "In fact, this could be considered almost practice-marriage. So we can see if we like it. This is a rare opportunity, Matthew! Are you sure you are so willing to squander it?"

"Practice-marriage? By the gods, Sveta, this idea is getting weirder by the second." But Matthew shrugged. "It actually sounds kind of neat. I'll admit, you've piqued my curiosity."

Sveta smiled widely and leaned in close. "Kiss the bride?" she asked.

Matthew shook his head. "Not yet. Actually, could you do me a favor? Is my adventuring pack still with the rest of my stuff?"

Sveta glanced across the room, where she had neatly folded his nonessential clothing. While he was unconscious she had removed his shirt to bandage his chest, and removed his pants to splint his leg. She had had neither the impetus nor the inclination to dress him back up again. But yes, his bag was there. She strode across the room, collected it, and brought it back to him.

He sorted through it for a moment, poking through all the odds and ends he had kept from their journey to end the Eclipse. It was mostly the lighter items; all of the weapons and armor had been either distributed amongst the party or sold at the end of the adventure. His pack now contained mostly money, gems, psynergy focus-items, things like that.

"This is going to sound really weird," said Matthew, "and more than a little cheesy. But can you hold out your hand for me?"

She did.

"No, left," he said.

She extended her left hand.

He grabbed it, and slipped a ring on it.

She cocked her head, and lifted the ring up to the light. He knew she would recognize it; Lady Hinechou had given it to them as thanks for finding her children. The Lady Moon's Ring, she had called it – fitting, as it held a crescent design on its surface.

On Matthew's own hand, he placed the Lord Sun's Ring they received from Emperor Unan of Sana. Two valuable Sanan relics, and the party had kept them after the adventure had ended... but Sana had technically never asked for them back, so it was alright, wasn't it?

"Lord Sun, and Lady Moon," said Sveta. "They match, I suppose. An interesting idea."

"There's more to it than that," said Matthew. "In Kalay, we have traditions of our own. When a couple is married, they exchange rings as a symbol of trust and of mutual love. Next time you see my parents, check their left hands. They've got rings, too."

He leaned forward, and took Sveta's hands in his. "If we're going to carry on with this bizarre pseudo-marriage, I say we go full-out. So..." His voice cracked. He cleared his throat. This was such a stupid idea, why was he going along with this - "Queen Sveta of the Czamaral clan," he said, carrying on anyway, this was so dumb he should really have stopped oh this was a terrible idea - "will you be my Lady Moon? Will you take me as your Lord Sun?"

She burst out laughing. His heart sank.

"You were right," she said. "That was incredibly cheesy! But of course I will. It would be absurd of me to say no at this point. And to be honest, it was touching anyway. So... yes."

Matthew sighed in relief. "Kiss the bride?" he asked.

"Kiss the bride," agreed Sveta.

So he did.

They didn't stay awake for very long after that. It had been a very, _very_ long day. But when they finally closed their eyes for some well-deserved rest, they did so in each other's arms.

And they dreamed of the times that had yet to come, the adventures they would yet share as kind-of-husband and sort-of-wife.

* * *

The landing had been much, much harder than it should have been. He had tested the systems himself in prototyping. Something had gone terribly wrong here.

The Empyror crawled out of the escape pod's wreckage. Somehow it ended up taking him to the summit of Mt Aleph. That made no sense. Once he was clear of the cruiser's wreck, he had set the navigation systems to bring him to Bilibin. He was miles off course. The navigation systems had been guaranteed to work, too. What the hell had happened?

_**Pathetic fool. Your plight would be hilarious to me if I had not been involved. Remind me again, why am I bound to you?**_

That cursed djinni was speaking to him again. He had no response.

_**I did warn you, after all,**_ said Halo, **_that I would only serve a competent master. Yet here you lie, defeated again, after fleeing from yet another opponent that you had ample opportunity to defeat. Your failures are your own. I refuse to be a part of them._**

"Fine!" shouted the Empyror. "Go on, then, leave!" His voice echoed across the barren, lifeless landscape. "I don't need you. When I get my strength back, when Weyard's on its knees before me..."

"You'll what? No, go on. I want to hear the rest."

The Empyror froze. That voice...

He struggled to his feet, turning to face the newcomer, the only other living person for miles. "You..." spat the Empyror. "You dare show your face around here? After all that you did?"

"I could say the same to you," replied the other man icily. "You're the one who started the Grave Eclipse, after all. There are a lot of people who I'm sure would like to do a lot of awful, awful things to you."

"Betrayer," said the Empyror. "We have nothing to talk about. You and I? We're _done._"

But the other man smiled and shook his head. "We were done long ago. My business here is not actually with you. It's with your friend. The one you were talking to just now."

"Who?"

"The djinni. I don't know his name, but I know you have him. And I know I'm exactly the kind of master he's looking for."

The Empyror staggered backward, one burned, scratched arm positioned protectively over his chest, as if doing so would prevent Halo from leaving. "You can't!" he shouted. "He's mine! I took him, fair and square!"

_**My will is not yours. I have never belonged to you. And I am rather insulted that you would insinuate such a thing.**_

There was a feeling of deprivation, then; everything about the Empyror seemed to get weaker at the same time. His mind, his spirit, his body... everything failed. He fell back onto his rear and his eyelids drooped.

When he opened his eyes again, there was a very bright form before him. The Sol Djinni, Halo, had taken its physical form once more. It had left him, just like it said it would.

Its single, dark eye seemed to stare into his soul. Then it turned away, facing the newcomer.

"So, what?" shouted the Empyror. "You're just gonna leave? What's the plan, you gonna go with THAT asshole?"

_**Actually, yes. Yes, I think that will do nicely. Such power... surely you can feel it yourself, can you not?**_

The bright form exploded, sparkles floating through the air. They danced in the air for a time, and then were drawn toward the other man, fading as they touched him. Yes, the Empyror could feel his power, and he could feel it grow as the djinni joined him. It was... terrifying. Utterly terrifying that one single being could hold that much sway over the forces of nature.

"Djinn are such interesting creatures, don't you think?" asked the man. "They are the very personification of their respective elements. They know so much, intuitively, about their very own nature. I'm surprised that you never thought to ask Halo to tell you anything about his kind.

"Likely one of the first things you would hear is that every power has an opposite. Fire and water, earth and wind. Obviously light has a partner, too. You should really have looked into it."

The world grew dark. The Empyror could still see the sun on the horizon, but it was as if the night had settled in and decided consciously to ignore it. There were no stars. There was barely any light at all.

"I have had a very long time to think about my place in the world," continued the betrayer. "I have experienced much pain and loss, and through it all I have earned much wisdom. I know why I am here, and I know what I plan to do. You and your research aided me well, but I have no more need of you. I will make my mark upon Weyard, and all of time and space shall bend to my will."

The Empyror felt a wave of nausea as gravity apparently changed its mind about which direction it wanted to pull him in. He rose up and up and up, falling into the sky. The world spun around him. He grabbed at the air, hoping in vain to find some handhold.

Through it all, he felt wave upon wave of power flowing out from the betrayer below. It was his doing. Somehow.

The man flew through the air to meet him. How was that possible? Levitation was a Mercury talent, but this went beyond that. It was he was standing still, and the world was moving away to suit him.

"Your mistake was planning for failure," said Weyard's newest god. "You should have planned to succeed. Perhaps then you would have known what to do once you had a Sol Djinni at your disposal. Allow me to show you what happens when someone _doesn't_ squander their power."

And suddenly, gravity turned back to normal.

And then it doubled. And doubled again. And the ground rushed up faster and faster, and he fell quicker than it should have been possible to-

* * *

The landscape of Mt Aleph was mostly flat and empty, but now there were three things of note at its summit. There was a brutally wrecked escape pod. There was an awful red smear. And there was a man.

The most powerful man in the world.

He was an Adept of unnatural power. At birth, he was a particularly skilled Mercury Adept. In his early adulthood, he had absorbed much of the power of the Golden Sun itself. And now, through many trials and tribulations, he had earned the dual powers of light and shadow.

It was not enough. It would never be enough. But for now, he was satisfied.

The betrayer brushed aside his long, blue hair and the sun glinted off the metal band he wore over the damaged half of his face, scarred eternally by the machinations of the Wise One.

Yes, he knew why he was here. And he knew what he planned to do.

Now he had the power to do it. Some day he would find the means.

But for now, he would wait.

He was nothing if not patient.

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

_The End! OR IS IT? Yes, it is. Or, actually, no. There's an epilogue. But you can kind of consider this the end. Except for the sequel this ending teases, too. And the far-off sequel starring the Warriors of Vale plus Karst. So this really isn't much of an ending at all, I guess. Except that it is? The End._

_You made it! Congratulations on sticking with it for so long. And thank you very, very much for reading. I learned a lot from it, and will continue to apply these lessons to my future projects, should you choose to keep up with them. _

_I still have some reservations about the quality of this story in general. I was very, very clumsy in a lot of places. Even this chapter on its own has a bunch of awkward scene transitions, and I don't feel like I did a good job of shifting the mood in a satisfying manner. But on the small-scale I think it's pretty good! And man was I ever looking forward to writing some of those scenes. _

_Epilogue's coming soon, hopefully not too far away. Then that's it for Drops of Jupiter. I'm bad at these sorts of concluding speeches, but... thanks. Really. All of the reviews, all the ticks on the traffic counter, they all mean a ton to me. More than you can know. Yes, even the negative reviews. Thanks, everybody. Seriously._

_No review responses tonight, sorry. I gotta head to bed. This was a longer chapter than I expected, but I just had to put in a few extra hours to get it done, you know... (even if it meant staying up until 4am on a night when I have class the next day)_

_See you guys next time!_


	73. Epilogue

_**Golden Sun belongs to Nintendo and Camelot, not me. Support them if you like the series! I just write fanstuff. And if you feel like borrowing any of my original ideas, please, go right ahead.**_

* * *

**One week after Tuaparang.**

* * *

When Sveta heard the echoes of a voice, she thought she must have been imagining it. After all, she had explored the ship top-to-bottom multiple times, and she was absolutely certain that she and Matthew were alone. There were no Tuaparang survivors. There weren't even any bodies. And Matthew was asleep in their room on the floor below; even if he called for her, she likely wouldn't have been able to hear him.

As with almost every other time she left the room to let Matthew rest, Sveta was waiting in what appeared to have once been a common room. The cracked windows that once split the light into a beautiful, chaotic rainbow now made the room feel forbidden; she was living in someone else's house, and from the sound of it, there might still have been someone home.

She leaped from the couch, pulse racing, and darted out the door, straining her ears to listen for where the sound was coming from. It was very faint and intermittent. Without her enhanced beastman senses she likely would never have noticed it. Could it have been a trap? Or maybe it was the sound of someone trying not to be heard? Regardless, it was the first exciting thing to happen to her in days. There was nothing to do on the ship... particularly because with Matthew's injuries, they were holding off on exploring the benefits of their "practice marriage."

Flicking her ears in anticipation, Sveta dashed down the hallway and up the stairs toward the first action she had seen in a week.

"_...have settled... helping... doing well..."_

It was a female voice, and it was definitely familiar. Sveta could barely make out any of the words. The sound was coming from the top floor, though; odd, considering how little there was up there. Just one room full of machines that she had never figured out how to use, and was too afraid to try.

She reached the top floor. The air was stale. She should have been able to smell if someone was nearby, but as far as she could tell, she was still alone. Yet the voice kept coming from the single, mysterious room.

"_...but Isaac and Felix are heading to Goma Plateau to see if they can somehow reach that escape pod. If you're there... gods, if you're there, I hope you've had food or, or something... and I guess maybe your communications are down, which is why you aren't responding..."_

Sveta's eyes widened. It was Jenna. There was no mistaking it. She stepped into the room.

Surrounding her were strange, metal boxes with all sorts of wires and knobs extending out from them. It was unusually chaotic compared to the rest of the Tuaparang ship. The boxes themselves had hundreds of tiny holes over certain sections of them. They reminded Sveta of breathing holes, perhaps...

"_Oh, gods, Felix told me not to give up hope, but... I don't know. I feel like an idiot just talking to myself all day, hoping someone will answer. And I feel like nobody's gonna answer, because it's been a week, and if you were gonna pick up then you would have already..."_

The voice was muffled and tinny, and now that Sveta was close enough to the source she could hear the underlying notes of hopelessness in Jenna's words.

The sound seemed to be coming from the "breathing holes" of the nearest box to Sveta.

She hurried over to it. "Jenna?!" she shouted. "Jenna, are you alright? I am here to help, just-"

"_I guess part of me doesn't believe you made it off the ship. We all saw the escape pod go out, but... I don't know. What if it wasn't you? What if it was the Empyror who won, and Isaac and Felix are walking right into a trap, and I'll just keep losing people-"_

Jenna kept talking. Could she even hear? Was she listening? Sveta struck the box with her fist several times – gently, as she didn't want to cause any serious damage – and when that didn't work, she started hitting buttons.

There was a loud "beep."

"_-already lost my parents, and Garet, and- ***BEEP* **-Huh? What was... did I do something? Oh, crap, I broke it again somehow, didn't I..."_

"Hello?" called Sveta. "Jenna, can you hear me?" She struck the device several more times.

"_What?! Who... hello? Is someone there?"_

"Finally! I am here to help," said Sveta. "One moment, I shall try to find a way to get you out of this box-"

"_What are you...? Wait, no, hold on! Don't damage the box! Just... just hold on a minute. Okay? Are you still there?"_

Sveta flicked her ears in frustration. "Why not?" she asked. "Have you really been in there all week? You must be _starving._ I can go get you some water if you need, I suppose I can run it through these air holes-"

"_Those aren't air holes!"_ said Jenna. _"Felix tried to explain this to me. It's like... it's a thing you can use to talk to people as if you're right next to them. I'm in Bilibin right now, not in the box. The Tuaparang had some technology that sends your voice through the air to other boxes like this one. That's a speaker, not air holes. I'm not in the box, Sveta."_

Sveta sighed in relief. She didn't understand, but Jenna seemed to know what was going on, so whatever. "Okay, good," she said. "I am sorry to hear that you were worried. I only got to this room a moment ago, so I heard very little. Matthew is fine, in case you were wondering. He was injured in the crash, but he will be alright and can wait to see a healer."

"_Where are you right now? Were you in the escape pod? What do you mean by 'this room?' Where's Matthew?"_ There was a wash of static and a loud rumble as Jenna's excitement built up.

"We never made it off the ship. Luckily, the rear half landed safely in the water and serves as a fair habitat until a better option appears. Matthew is in our- I mean, his room," she said, deciding that discretion would be the smartest path for now. "He has a broken leg and several cracked ribs, so his mobility is limited."

Jenna made an uncomfortable noise. _"I'm sorry to hear that you've been stuck like that. The airship needs repairs, and Ivan and Karis haven't gotten all the materials they need to do it yet. The communicator works, so I've spent..."_ She hesitated. _"I spent a short while every day seeing if I could get a hold of anyone, but aside from that it isn't quite airworthy. We barely made it back to land safely. They've said it's almost ready, though, and I'll be sure to keep in contact every day until we can come get you. I'll bring Mia or Rief."_

Sveta nodded, not sure whether Jenna could see her or not, but deciding that it was safest not to make assumptions. "Thank you. I will return this time tomorrow, and Matthew and I will look into options for moving him without harm. How is everyone else?"

"_I'm fine now,"_ said Jenna, _"Ivan's doing well, all things considered. Tyrell seemed to be coping last time I saw him, but he headed back to Kalay already. I think he needs some closure. The rest of us are mostly trying to help restore Bilibin in the wake of the McCoys' reign, and I think the plan is to move on to Belinsk once things are settled. We'll make sure to pick you up as soon as possible so you can be there. I know it'd be important to you. Some of Bilibin's troops are coming back from war with impressive stories of what your people were doing, so it might be better than expected. It must be nice to finally hear some good news!"_

Oh gods, her people. Sveta had nearly forgotten all about them.

"Has... has anyone left for my city yet?" she asked slowly. "Have they brought news of me?"

"_No, but it sounds like Kraden really wants to head out as soon as possible. There's some stuff he wants to study. I'll make sure he lets them know you're safe-"_

"No!" She gasped. "I... I mean..."

What? What did she mean? No, it made sense to send Kraden with word of her safe return. Her people would be worried sick. Was anyone leading them? Would they survive without their queen? She should return, and as soon as possible.

But it was too soon.

"...I am married now..." she muttered. It was the beginning of the life she had always dreamed of. Could she really give it up-

"_Wait, what? Sorry, I didn't catch that, it sounded like you said you're _married_ now."_

"Aaah! Uh, no!" said Sveta. "I said it... is very, umm, dour." Nice save. "My nation's situation, I mean, is dour. But I cannot return just yet, and if Kraden tells them I will be back soon, then every moment I wait will make them question my dedication. I have matters to attend to first."

"_Oh, I see,"_ said Jenna. _"I understand. From what I hear, they're doing just fine without you, so don't worry about it. Take your time, recover from this whole ordeal, and go back when you're ready."_

"Tell Kraden to go ahead, but to please let no one know of my situation." It felt wrong to ask a friend to lie like that, but Sveta had no choice. She had had almost an instinctual urge to get as far away from the castle as possible for as long as she could remember. It was just like running away from home again. Yes, an innocent excursion. That was all it was. The thought kept Sveta calm.

"_I'll let him know. Thanks for finally answering, Sveta," _said Jenna with relief. _"I'll keep in touch. For now, I'm gonna go see if I can get Ivan and Karis to hurry it up a little with their repairs. You two stay safe, alright? I'll see you soon."_

"Goodbye," said Sveta. She pressed the button once more to shut off the device, and there was another beep. No more sound came through the speakers.

It was odd. Just a moment before, she had been bored out of her mind. Now she and Matthew would have to return to the mainland with everyone else. It was all happening so fast. She should have been happy, but she was panicking. She couldn't go back. Not yet.

When she returned, it wouldn't be long before she had to take the throne again. That meant she would be swamped with work and responsibilities. The agony of leadership would compose her world once more. She realized that she was idly toying with her wedding ring. Already she had gotten so used to it that she barely noticed it was there. She couldn't bring Matthew with her to Belinsk – her people would never accept a human king. What was she to do?

Sveta trudged back downstairs to the bedroom she shared with her husband. She knocked gently on the door. There was no response but a quiet snore. She opened the door and slipped in, closing it behind her.

Matthew lay on his side of the bed, as he had when she left. But since then, he had apparently grabbed the pillow on her side. His arms were gently wrapped around it – it was partially on top of him, as he still slept on his back – and his head was tilted slightly to rest against it.

Sveta slipped out of her clothing and took the pillow's place. She would tell him about the talk when he woke up. Until then, she planned to savor every moment of her freedom while it lasted.

* * *

It seemed so empty now. Smaller, too. Other than that, it was exactly as he remembered it.

The house he grew up in. Now vacated, since both owners had passed away.

Tyrell wasn't crying. Not anymore. He had thought so long and so hard about losing both of his parents that the thoughts had lost any meaning. He missed them. He knew they were both in a better place, thanks to Sveta, but that didn't make it any better for _him._

He was alone now. He still had friends, but no more family. He'd have to make his own way, and he no longer had anyone to rely on if things went bad. It would be hard. Responsibility had never been Tyrell's "thing."

All of his belongings, those he hadn't already sold or given away after his adventures, were still at the cabin on Goma Plateau. He'd head there later. But he had one thing left to do.

This house, his parents' old house, the one they got married in, raised a child in... it symbolized his old life. His life as a dependent teen. His life as a kid. He could move in, or he could move on.

The decision seemed obvious. It wasn't his house, it was his dad's, and his dad wasn't around anymore.

He raised his fingers and snapped.

A tiny spark of flame appeared on the corner of the house's thatched roof. It caught in seconds, spreading slowly but surely across the surface. Smoke started to billow out. It seemed fitting, Tyrell supposed, that Garet's house would burn to the ground. Comfortable.

He turned and began to walk down the path downtown.

Then he heard a scream.

"Ohmygawd! My house is on fire!" shouted a girl down the road, dropping her bags of groceries from the marketplace and sprinting the way he had just come from. "Someone help, please!"

Tyrell stopped dead in his tracks.

He and his dad had lived away from Kalay for four years.

Of _course_ someone had moved in.

"I, uh, I dunno what happened!" shouted Tyrell at the girl. "It just caught fire! It was totally weird! Stay there, I'll go get help!"

It seemed he still had a lot to learn about responsibility.

* * *

**Ten days after Tuaparang.**

* * *

Karst really didn't fit in.

Beyond the window, all the townspeople of Bilibin were hurrying around, working busily to restore the city to its former glory – or, she had heard from the occasional optimist, "even beyond the level that tyrant bitch held us back at."

Somewhere else in the city, Isaac and Felix helped too, despite having returned from their journey in poor spirits; though after speaking with Jenna and learning that his son was still alive, Isaac was much less depressed about the awful bloody smear he found next to the crashed escape pod. So The Empyror had met his end at the hands of mechanical failure. Karst felt that fate lacked a certain punch. It was dissatisfying, but there was nothing to be done for it.

Jenna herself had gone with Ivan and Rief to retrieve the castaways. Their suicide mission had apparently been a complete success (aside from the lack of suicide, of course), and the whole group was counting their blessings that they wouldn't have any more people to mourn. The whole adventure with the Tuaparang had been rough on everyone. Rougher than it had ever been.

Except for Karst, of course, who had slept through half of it, lost no one she cared about, and who had been through much worse in the past.

She staggered back to the bed in the room she had rented at the inn, carefully following the half-walk rhythm she had taught herself that kept her upright with her crappy leg augmentations. The things got sweaty very quickly and chafed awfully. They didn't provide any sensation either, which gave the disconcerting feeling that Karst was being carried piggyback by an armless robot.

Karst scrambled out of the rig and onto the bed. Sitting down, she didn't need to rely on half-working technology to keep her going. She wasn't tired, but she was bored of looking out the window. And as there was a staircase between her and the inn's exit, she wasn't going anywhere until Felix got back.

Which meant she was still sitting around when the knock came at her door.

"Who's there?" she called tersely, knowing that if it was Felix he wouldn't care, and if it was anyone else she didn't want to talk.

"It's Karis. Can I come in?"

Karst said, "No," and rolled over to face the opposite direction.

"Please?" said Karis through the door. "It's important. I promise it won't bug you too much."

"Might I remind you," replied Karst, "that your family and I are merely having a temporary truce. I can choose to end it whenever I please. I tolerate you. I don't like you."

There was an audible sigh from the other side, but it didn't come from Karis. Her voice followed immediately after, though. "Then it's really important that you hear what I have to say! It'll only be a minute."

Karst squeezed her eyes shut. "If I say yes, will you go away immediately after?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Then come in. Make it quick."

The door opened gently, and Karis strode in cradling several books, as she had taken to doing recently. Following several seconds behind her was Mia, who still seemed uncomfortable about working with the Proxian warrior.

"This had better be good," said Karst.

Karis nodded, dropped all but one book on the room's single cabinet, and walked directly over to Karst's recently-vacated leg framework. The Proxian sneered, as this entered her rapidly-widening bubble of personal space. But Karis took no notice, instead flipping open the heavy hardcover and leafing to a dog-eared page. She glanced from the book to the framework and back several times.

"Yup," said Karis, "thought so. Mia, can you take a look at this?"

Karst glared. "No, she can't," she said. "Get away from that. You'll break it."

Mia seemed perfectly satisfied to stand well back from her former enemy, but looked at Karis questioningly. "Can you just tell me what you want me to do?" she said. "The woman wants her space, and I don't see a problem with giving it to her-"

"The problem," interrupted Karis, "is that over in Tuaparang, they built this thing just on the off-chance they needed Karst to do something for them, or to keep Felix in check. As I've looked deeper and deeper into their notes, I've been shocked at what an absolute crap job they did. Here," she said, walking back over to Mia and flipping to a different chapter before handing her the book. "I don't know much about human anatomy, but-"

Mia's brow furrowed. "Clearly, neither did they," she said. She pointed to several lines, one after the other. "That's accurate, that's halfway-accurate... that would kill somebody if you tried it... Honestly, I thought these people were supposed to know what they were doing."

Karis nodded confidently, folded the corner of the book, and snapped it shut.

"I can fix your leg-thing," she said to Karst. "Mia's going to help me. Hopefully you can accept this as an apology."

"Wait, what?" said Mia. "Since when am I apologizing to her? Thirty years ago she tried to kill my friends and I!"

Karst sat forward, aiming to look as intimidating as possible given the circumstances. "You killed my sister, you simpleton! Now tell me who struck the first blow!"

"Your sister did!"

"She was trying to save the world-"

"She could have just SAID something, instead of-"

"SHUT IT!"

Both of women turned in shock to the sixteen-year-old, normally so politely-spoken, who had had the outburst. Karis folded her arms, still holding the book beneath one of them, and glared at the women as if they were infants throwing a tantrum.

"You have a history. I get that," said Karis. "And I'm not suggesting you two become friends. But like it or not, Felix needs to be associated with _both_ of our groups. We've been through rough times recently and there's no need to make it worse by causing interpersonal strife." She pointed at Mia. "You see Karst as your enemy, but she fought well enough alongside Garet and Tyrell. Without her, they'd both be dead, and as it was, the Empyror had to cheat to get one of them. We all miss him, but it could have been worse."

She turned to Karst. "As for you, we're sorry for all of the pain you've been caused. If there had been a way, I'm sure Isaac's group would have spared your sister. They probably wouldn't have fought at all if they hadn't been cornered like that-"

"Don't you dare make it her fault-"

"It _doesn't matter_," said Karis, "whose fault it was. The fact is, it's over. No one is happy it happened. I'm just trying to stop anyone from trying to kill anyone else. Step one of that plan is to forge a bit of co-dependence. Karst, we can give you your legs back, and not just through the use of a machine built less for convenience and more for necessity. We've got the best healer in Weyard, and I have pages and pages of research to draw from. We can find the problems and make it as if you were never injured in the first place. The only thing standing in the way of that is worthless pride. So, drop it."

There was a long silence.

Then Karst shrugged. "Okay," she said.

"What?" said Mia. "That's it?"

"Obviously."

"So you're just going to drop a decades-old grudge, one that nearly cost all of us our lives and could have ended the world?" Mia put her hands on her hips and rolled her eyes. "We should have gotten a smart-mouthed sixteen-year-old to shout at you _years_ ago."

Karst glared defensively, but her expression softened a hair when she noticed that Karis was glaring too.

"Stop acting like a child. I'm not forcing you two to be friends, I just want you to stop fighting," she said.

"She's obviously lying! She's just saying 'okay' so that we'll fix her, and then she'll stab us in the back-"

"I never said I was dropping the grudge," interrupted Karst.

She waited for the argument to subside before continuing.

"I still don't forgive you," she said. "I don't think I ever will, and I don't think you forgive me, either. But forgiveness isn't necessary. I have a problem, and if you're willing to solve it for me, then I appreciate that. Fighting will get us nowhere. After all," she said, baring her teeth, "you obviously already know which of us would win if it came to blows."

"Oh?" asked Mia. "What about your national pride? I was under the impression that you thought the rest of the world was foolish for appreciating things like friendship and co-operation."

"Then you obviously don't understand Prox in the slightest. We have nothing against co-operation. Have you ever seen a Proxian warrior set out alone? We _always_ work in pairs. Always. What we despise is weakness, and right now, I'm weak... weaker than I should be, at least." Karst shrugged again. "If you're willing to help me get past that, I'll accept it, even if I think it's shockingly stupid of you to waste resources on an invalid. And by the way, it's not in my best interests right now to attack any of you outright. I'm far from home, and I've apparently been out of the world for a long time. I have only one ally right now, and I would not do anything to alienate him, especially if it was for no better reason than to spite another."

Karis smiled. She looked at Mia, and Mia sighed in acquiescence. She extended a hand.

Karst watched it carefully, debating internally, before taking Mia's hand and shaking it. It was not a soft handshake of friendship, nor was it a firm, respectful one. It was cautious, and above all, competitive. Neither of them gave any indication of yielding. But Karst didn't make any attempt to break Mia's hand, or to pull her in to attack, and she silently congratulated herself on her self-restraint.

* * *

**Four weeks after Tuaparang.**

* * *

Maddie woke up smelling bacon and smoke, and immediately assumed that her house was on fire. Without wondering why a house fire would smell like bacon, she immediately jumped out of bed in her nightclothes – a longish undershirt with short sleeves – and hurried downstairs.

She was about halfway down before she spotted a familiar, blue-haired figure standing in front of her stove. He wasn't wearing the heavy robes he'd worn when they first met; since he'd begun living in Bilibin, he had grown accustomed to actually wearing lighter, weather-appropriate clothing.

He turned his head at the clatter. "Morning," he said. Then he turned back to the stove, and the sizzling strips of meat in the pan on top of it. He grabbed a pair of steel tongs and flipped them one-by-one.

Maddie blushed and pulled her shirt down in an attempt to cover her legs a little more. "...Hey Rief," she said. "How'd you get in? Why are you here so early?"

"I used the key you gave me, like, a week ago," he replied. "And I'm here because we'd planned to meet for breakfast, but you slept in, and I didn't want to wake you."

"Oh," she said. "Um, wow. Okay, thank you. Here I was thinking the house was on fire for some reason, and you just got up early to cook breakfast for us..." She smiled sheepishly. "I don't deserve you. Really, I don't."

Rief turned to look at her, smiled, and turned back to the bacon again. "Well, I disagree. For one thing, you've retroactively earned this by coming downstairs pantsless. Again."

"Yeah, this happens way more often than it should."

"It happens _exactly_ as often as it should!"

"I'm just not a morning person!" shouted Maddie. "I forget things sometimes!"

"It's practically noon, and like I said, I'm fine with you forgetting that particular thing." He grabbed another pan and a plate. "You prefer your eggs scrambled, right? If you feel like going to grab some pants, breakfast will probably be ready by the time you're done."

She nodded and ran back up the stairs. But just as she grabbed a simple pair of loose-fitting sweatpants, she heard a knock on the door. She raced back down, awkwardly hopping into one leg as she reached the main floor, and slipping on the other as she reached the door.

"Hi!" she said, gasping, as she opened the door while simultaneously pulling her pants on the rest of the way. She stopped cold.

It was the new Mayor, a man by the name of Branfeld, and his expression turned from political friendliness to embarrassment upon seeing her. Undoubtedly, he came to certain conclusions from her unkempt hair, her hasty attempts at dressing, her exhaustion, and the fact that her boyfriend was in her house preparing a very late breakfast.

"I'm dreadfully sorry," he said. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything."

"I swear this isn't what it looks like," Maddie replied. "How can I help you?"

Mayor Branfeld nodded and cleared his throat. "I, umm... I suppose this could have waited until later. But I wished to ask for your opinion on a certain matter. The rebuilding of Bilibin is going smoothly, as I'm sure you're aware, but some of our councilmen are taking opposing sides on certain issues, and at this point I'm convinced that they're just arguing because they dislike each other. It makes it terribly difficult to gain any headway."

"Tommins and Kenway, right?" asked Maddie. "Yeah, I noticed that. They seem pretty determined to hate each other."

The mayor blushed. "Yes, quite right," he said. "Well, I proposed a reasonably effective compromise between their two viewpoints on the matter of lumber exports, but neither of them will accept it because it seems too similar to the other man's views. I'm not quite sure how to proceed."

Maddie nodded. "Simple. Kenway loves feeling like he's getting special treatment, and Tommins hates feeling pressured. Ignore Tommins for now, focus on pitching your idea to Kenway. Eventually he'll break down, and even if Tommins gains some support, he'll come around to the idea anyway while pretending it was his idea all along."

"I... of course, I was about to suggest that very thing," Branford said. He shifted uneasily in his obvious lie. "I just wanted to know if you had the same read on the situation. Glad to hear you approve. Thank you, and again, I'm sorry for interrupting." He backed away, extending a hand in a wave before proceeding down the street. "Carry on, good day!"

As Maddie closed the door, Rief laughed. "Why the hell is he mayor and not you?" he asked.

She waved away the question. "Don't be silly! I'm friends with Tommins' and Kenway's daughters. I know the men pretty well."

"But you already knew exactly how you'd deal with the situation before the mayor even asked you!"

"Because he's been coming to me with questions since he was elected. I just had to get used to it," she said. "Besides, I made that whole thing up. The truth is that if he goes after Kenway, then Tommins will get jealous. The two are next-door neighbours, and they're always trying to one-up each other. The best way to keep them under control is to marginalize their conflict, and the only way to get Branford to do that is to make sure he doesn't realize he's picking sides."

Rief shrugged. "You should be mayor," he repeated.

Maddie pulled out a chair and sulked into it. "I don't wanna be mayor..."

They didn't speak for a short while. Rief split the bacon and eggs between two plates and brought them to the table, then took up a chair next to her. She ate quietly.

"You're not like her, you know," said Rief. "Not in the ways that matter."

"...Thanks."

"Is that why you don't want to try your hand at politics? You understand how people interact, and I know you have the people's interests in mind. You'd be good at it."

"I dunno. I just... I guess I don't want to see myself in her shoes. Not ever," said Maddie. "All I want is to live my own life again without worrying that I'm heading in that direction too much. I want to travel, I want to see the world... I don't want to _rule_ it, though."

Rief laughed. "You aren't going to accidentally take over the world by going into politics," he said. "But I get where you're coming from." He paused, a fork halfway to his mouth. He put it back down again, and he tented his fingers. "What if you got them to make you an ambassador for the new, improved Bilibin? That'd give you an excuse to go out, meet new people, see new places. And you'd still be helping your people by showing the world that the city is no longer run by, pardon my frankness, a genocidal tyrant."

Maddie shrugged. "Maybe. It's a thought."

"Now that your brother's officially staying with family in Border Town, you've got a lot more freedom. I say, do what you want. Now's as good a time as any if you me to take you out and show you the sights, and if you've got a good excuse, all the better!"

She put her arm around him. "I think I'm happy here for now," she said. "Later on, yeah. But at this point, I'm happy just rebuilding the town, and... y'know, dating..." She shifted closer. "...Maybe getting married eventually..."

Rief pulled away. "Whoa! Umm, not yet!"

"Why not?! Matthew and Sveta got hitched, and they were only dating a week!" Maddie said in a sudden huff. "We've been seeing each other for a whole month now!"

"They never got married!"

"They did! They totally did!"

"When would they have gotten the chance?"

"I dunno, but they had rings on their fingers when Jenna picked them up!"

"Those were magic rings!" said Rief. "They probably wore them to help them on the assault!"

Maddie shook her head. "The way they were standing, too! I promise, they definitely hooked up. I guarantee it."

"They _definitely_ didn't."

"Let's make a bet," said Maddie. "Sveta's a bad liar. Next time we see her, I'll ask her directly if she and Matthew got married. If she says yes, or she gets flustered, I win. If she says no, then you win."

"What are the terms?" asked Rief.

"If I win, then we get hitched next!" said Maddie. "If you win..."

Rief thought for a moment, then grinned. "If I win, you go without pants for a week. And you have to make me breakfast each of those days."

"Done."

"Wait, really? A full week, you're fine with that?"

"Rief, honey, I'd have agreed to going _nude_ for a full week."

"...Is it too late to change it to that instead?"

Maddie shook her head. "It doesn't matter what your side of the bet is. I've already won, and you just don't know it yet."

"You didn't ask her yet. I mean... did you?" Rief paled.

"No, but I know I'm right. We should plan a trip to Kalay, so we can ask them. In the meantime..." She brought a hand to her chin. "Ring shopping, I think. You can afford something nice, what with all of your adventuring money, right?"

"I think you're getting a little ahead of yourself."

"Just saying. You've got a ton of extra notice, I expect a magical evening when you end up proposing to me."

"This is madness..."

"No, this is Maddie!" she said. "I own your ass, snowman! That'll teach you to tangle with me! Also, thank you for making breakfast, this is delicious."

"Yeah, no problem."

When they were finished cleaning up and getting properly dressed, they actually did go ring shopping, but Rief complained the entire time, and they got absolutely nowhere.

* * *

**Six weeks after Tuaparang.**

* * *

The house was quiet again, with the kids having moved on. And now that the city had recovered from the Eclipse, Mia had a lot of time to herself. Lonely didn't cover it. It was just like before, except now she knew her children wouldn't be returning home. Karis's studies had already led to some surprising advances in non-alchemical medicine. Fewer and fewer people came calling every day. Mia was starting to feel as if no one needed her anymore.

Which meant it was a complete surprise when a knock came one day and Jenna stood on the other side.

"Huh?" said Mia. "I mean, hey! How are you doing? What brings you to Imil?"

Jenna smiled and shivered at about the same time. "Oh, I'm alright," she said, adjusting her new eyepatch. She was wearing a heavy winter jacket; ironically, the Mars Adept fared rather poorly in the cold weather. "We just decided it would be good to check up on you once in a while. You live pretty far away from everybody, and we figured it would be nice to stay connected. Especially when you take into account everything that's happened lately..."

"'We?'" asked Mia.

"Isaac and I," said Jenna. "He's coming along shortly. Just... some stuff at home held him up. He'll be on his way in a day or two. May I come in?"

They reconvened in Mia's living room with tea for the two of them. It was a little untidy, as Mia hadn't expected guests; even when the people of Imil needed a healer, she would go to the patient's house rather than having her own home serve as a hospital. There was a neglected-looking fire in the fireplace, which Jenna immediately rekindled. She boiled the water for the tea too, while she was at it.

"So how have things been since we parted ways at Bilibin?" asked Jenna. "I still feel bad that we didn't at least send someone along with you."

Mia smiled. "Don't worry, we all had our own places to be. I didn't expect an escort. It's been a little lonely, I admit. I don't begrudge Rief staying behind with his new girlfriend. And, well... while I have a great many questions to ask of Piers, I don't begrudge him and Nowell either. If they're happy, I'm happy."

Jenna nodded, but her expression was somewhat skeptical. "Hmm. Very... tolerant of you. Well done. I'm not sure I would feel the same way at all."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I dunno. I guess our situations are a little different, but Matthew just spent a week alone on what amounted to a private island with his girlfriend. I'm still freaking out a little, like, what did they get up to? Should I be worried? Should I be asking him more questions about it, or would that be prying? I guess I'm just panicking a little, what if something happened and I'm gonna be a grandmother in eight months?" The words spilled out all at once, and it was clear that Jenna had been holding them in for some time. "Gods, I just got finished with living alone for four years. I'm glad my family's back together, but my son's growing up! What am I even supposed to think about that?"

Mia blushed, but quietly sipped her tea before answering. "I, umm... I suppose I have considered some of those fears as well. Maybe I just never thought that I was allowed to think that way. Does it make me a bad mother that I want more control over my children's lives?"

"Not one bit!" said Jenna, obviously glad to finally have someone to talk about this with. "At least, that's what I tell myself. I mean, we want what's best for them, and that's why we worry, right? And rightly so! Matthew's dating a queen, Rief's dating... well, _that_ girl – not that there's anything wrong with her, but you know what I'm talking about." Mia nodded. "And Nowell's dating _Piers_ of all people! Piers was my friend, too, and all I know about him is that he's way older than I am! He looks about eighteen still, or he did last I saw him, but that's only because he still had the lingering effects of the Lemurian Draught when he got Sunned like we did..."

"Ugh, I know! He looked... I mean, when we traveled together, I thought he might..." Mia blushed. "Okay, I mean, he was dateable then, wasn't he? I thought so, at least. Obviously nothing came of it, but now he's with my daughter, and that just makes it even weirder..."

"Oh wow, really? You and Piers, wow, I could almost picture that... except not anymore, of course, that'd be..."

"Yeah. Even if he broke up with Nowell, it'd still be beyond awkward. Could you imagine? Us having a moment, and then he calls me by my daughter's name by accident?"

Jenna threw her hands over her mouth as she burst out laughing. "Geez, I can totally imagine that too! Like, it'd be weird enough if he called you by a different name, but-"

"Gods, yeah, not to mention the fact that he, again, looks eighteenish, and I'm forty-seven-"

"You look twenty-five tops, Mia! Don't sell yourself short!"

"Well I know, but his age is just _question mark,_ so I can't help but think of him as eighteen!"

They laughed together at that thought. As the laughter died, Mia felt completely refreshed. The loneliness she'd felt only minutes earlier evaporated like a puddle in the sun.

"Jenna, we really should've hung out more. I mean, I know why we didn't, but it feels like such a missed opportunity now, doesn't it?"

"I know, right? We have so much in common!" Jenna grinned. "Same taste in guys, even!"

Mia went pale. "Right... yeah," she said. "Umm, sorry about all that, I should say."

Jenna blinked. Then she gasped. "Oh! No, no, that's not what I meant at all! That's behind us anyway. I'm trying to make a fresh start, we got off on the wrong foot and dwelling on the past won't help at all. I just meant, like... I remember when I was sixteen, and we were lighting the lighthouses, and I remember thinking to myself, 'if it doesn't work out with Isaac, or he meets somebody else, I could totally...' You know. I'm just saying, I considered other options-"

"Oh, don't you start!"

"I'm not! I didn't. It was an offhand comment."

"Sure."

"I didn't mean anything."

"If you say so."

"Stop it, Mia!"

"You're gonna make Isaac saaaaad."

Jenna started to respond, but trailed off. She ran a hand through her hair, pulled into a ponytail like it was when she was younger. But the unconscious motion caught the edge of her eyepatch, and she had to spend a moment readjusting that, too.

"I should probably tell you," began Jenna in a low voice, "the reason Isaac isn't here yet is because his mother passed away just before we planned to leave. We would likely have been here sooner, in fact. I stayed for the funeral, and he just needed to make sure everything was in order for his father."

"Oh," said Mia. "Gods, I'm sorry. I don't know what to say."

Jenna nodded. "That's fine. Dora was like a mother to me, too... without getting into another 'awkward moment' discussion, she did a good job of filling the second-family role for me during the years when I thought my family had died under the boulder. We'll both miss her deeply. It feels like everything awful is happening at once these days. Isaac hadn't even recovered from losing Garet yet." She gave a half-smile. "Neither have I, I guess."

Mia moved across to the other couch and gave Jenna a hug. "Me neither. You two knew him longer than I did, but I didn't have many friends. He was important to all of us. There was nothing we could do about it, though. Sometimes death just... happens. All you can do is remember them as they were, and try your best to live out the lessons they taught."

"Yeah," said Jenna. "I guess you're right. It doesn't make it any easier, though."

Mia swallowed. "Jenna... I'm worried. I think I've mostly recovered from what _you-know-who_ did to me, but..." She hesitated. "Sometimes I'm not sure. Sometimes I find myself thinking in certain ways and wondering if it's normal, or if it's okay. I miss knowing that I'm being myself."

"Well, that's what we're here for. If you're worried, your friends can help you through that. But what were you thinking of, specifically?"

She folded her hands in her lap. "Jenna, my husband is dead. He's believed to have been on a ship that was found wrecked with no survivors."

Jenna moved to give Mia another comforting hug, but Mia stopped her.

"I suspected for a long time that he was cheating on me. You know how it feels, I realize. I never got up the courage to confront him, or even to acknowledge that anything was wrong. I was afraid of disrupting the peace. But a few days ago, a woman showed up in Imil looking for him. She was his _other_ wife. It was the first actual proof I had of his wrongdoing. Turns out he had a whole family with her, too."

Jenna didn't react, and Mia couldn't tell what she was thinking.

"I know I should be mourning him, but he's been taking advantage of me for years. He knowingly left me lonely, and for what? So he could feel good about seeing someone else behind my back? He literally died betraying me. The ship he was on wasn't a fishing boat, it was a charter to his other family in Tolbi. I gave that bastard two children and a few decades of my life, and he gave me nothing back. How am I supposed to miss him?"

"I... I don't know," said Jenna. "He wronged you, yeah. I didn't know the guy, but didn't you love him at some point if you ended up marrying him?"

Mia shrugged. "Maybe. Probably. The thing is, I don't remember what love feels like anymore. Or when I do, it feels... corrupted. Forced. And I'm not talking about simple crushes, like what I had when I was a teenager." She wrapped her arms around her stomach. "I only remember what it's like to love one person, and it's the one person in the world I know for certain that I should hate. I still feel tingly when I think about him, but I know it's only because of what he did to my mind. It makes me sick."

"Whatever The Empyror did to you-"

"Please don't say his name," pleaded Mia. "It... it still makes me shiver. I just lost my husband, and... it's hard." She didn't want to put it into words, mostly because she didn't want to give her unwanted feelings credence by acknowledging them. She hoped Jenna understood.

"Alright," said Jenna. "Whatever was done to you, it can't be fixed easily. But we'll help you work through it, all of us, no matter how long it takes. You'll get better someday. I promise."

"When I heard he died, I almost had a panic attack. I think that's one of the things he did to me, to punish me for my failure. I still feel like I betrayed him, even though I know I did the right thing. He wanted me to hate you. All of you."

"Do you?"

"...Not anymore," said Mia. "I don't think so."

"Then you're already on the road to recovery," said Jenna. "Don't worry about a thing. Before this happened, you had an excellent sense of right and wrong, and if you listen to your heart I'm sure you'll get back there before you know it."

"I hope so."

They kept talking well into the night, making up for lost time and helping each other deal with recent hardships. They were friends turned rivals turned bitter enemies, and now they were friends again. A lot had happened, and it would all take some getting used to. But they would get through it as friends always had – together.

The flames in the fireplace fluttered out, but the warmth filled the room for a long time afterward.

* * *

Sveta woke with a start, her heart hammering in her chest. She'd had the dream again.

Matthew stirred behind her, his arm wrapped around her waist in slumber. But for all his moaning and groaning, he stayed asleep, and for that, Sveta was thankful. She desperately wanted not to have this discussion.

She'd known of Kalay's geographical location thanks to her time as Queen of Morgal – it sat on the edge of the body of water known as the Kalay Causeway – but the implications never occurred to her until she arrived. It was something most people never noticed, especially if they lived near water for a large part of their lives.

But the truth was, water meant wind. And in the evenings in particular, the gusts were fearsome indeed.

The house rocked and creaked, the air echoing outside the windows. Sveta tensed and squeezed her eyes shut, every part of her mind irrationally expecting the pain to come again and tear at every fibre of her being. When the wind finally subsided, she still couldn't relax, because she knew it would start again any second without warning.

It was better now than it was, but only because Matthew was there. Until recently, Sveta had officially been residing at an inn in Kalay, where she slept alone, on the rare occasion sleep was even possible. Once Isaac set out for Imil, though, she wasted no time in moving in with Matthew to share the temporarily-vacant house.

For what felt like the hundredth time, she brought her left hand to her face and gazed at the ring, fiddling with it with her right-hand fingers. She reminded herself that it was worth it, and she knew it to be true. This was what she wanted – the freedom to live her own life. But the price was steep. What good was happily-ever-after if she was woken up every evening by horrible nightmares about that damned prison cell?

The wind shook the house again, this time with even more force than usual. The windows rattled, and Sveta gave a little shriek as she cringed.

She felt Matthew wake with a jolt.

"Something wrong?" he asked, barely awake. "Hey, wait. Sveta, are you crying?"

She hadn't noticed, but yes, there were some tears gently streaming down the side of her face. She wanted to tell him not to worry, that she'd be just fine as always, but unfortunately she was too terrified to form coherent speech. She just turned toward him and pressed her face into his chest.

He traced his fingers along her bare back soothingly. But it wasn't until the windows rattled again several minutes later that he seemed to understand what was wrong.

"Oh, hell," he said. "I'm so sorry, I didn't even think... Hold on, let me take you down to the cellar for a minute. It'll be quieter there."

He led her downstairs carefully, bringing the bedsheets with them; it was a cold night, and they had nothing else to cover them at that moment. They had to pause every half-minute or so due to the gusts hammering the house. Once Sveta got her bearings again, they would continue, ready to stop again at a moment's notice.

They did eventually reach the door that led to the cellar from within the house, and the moment they started descending that dark staircase the noise seemed to subside. It still echoed, but to Sveta it at least seemed distant, and that was enough to keep her going.

Matthew laid the bedsheet on the cold, hard floor and helped her sit, then joined her before wrapping it around them both as much as possible. They sat upright at first. The cellar wasn't designed for sleeping, and it was far from comfortable. Rather chilly, too.

"Sveta," said Matthew, "I think we need to talk about our living arrangements."

She shook her head as she clung to him, still shaking, and only partially from the cellar's cold. "What is there to discuss?" she asked. "I will live where you live. I see no other acceptable option."

"Well, I agree, but I'm just saying that we don't necessarily have to live in Kalay," replied Matthew.

"I can tell where you are going with this," said Sveta. "Belinsk will never accept a human king, so no."

"Why not? I know you miss Morgal, and I know you feel guilty about leaving your people. You don't have to do that. I'm sure they'd get used to it, and I'm sure we could figure something out-"

"Except that if I showed up and declared you king, they would suspect foul play. I have been missing for nearly two months now, and if I just said, 'hello, everything is fine,' the people would be furious. I suspect some would accuse you of blackmailing me, for example."

"But-"

"And another thing... Belinsk Castle extends out onto the water. It would be exactly this windy, if not moreso. So taking the throne would not make the nights easier. Particularly if my regal duties keep us apart."

"You could live in the city itself."

"Not without you."

"You'd willingly never see Belinsk again just so that we could be together?"

"_Yes._"

Matthew didn't respond. The wind battered the house above them, and it took all of Sveta's willpower to stay focused.

"I will get used to living here," she said. "I must."

"You don't have to," said Matthew. "Let's move to another city. It doesn't matter where."

"But you grew up in Kalay. I would not deny you your home."

"I grew up here, but I'm not particularly attached to it. And if you'd leave home for me, why shouldn't I be willing to do the same for you?"

Matthew lay down, and Sveta did the same shortly after. She pulled the sheets over them for warmth. It didn't work very well.

He stroked her hair, thinking deeply for several minutes. Sveta wanted to say something, or at least to read him to find out what he was thinking. But she didn't want to ruin the moment. And if she was honest with herself, she didn't really want to come to a conclusion. Things were fine the way they were. Why risk stability?

"What's the most important thing for you when it comes to picking a place to live?" Matthew finally asked.

"Do you mean aside from ensuring you can be there too?" asked Sveta. She thought for a moment. A place with no wind, maybe? No, that was a secondary concern. Significant, but still secondary. "I would like to live somewhere that I may still take care of my people. I would be fine with Belinsk if I could keep you as my King without worrying about someone attempting to assassinate one or both of us. I think the people may riot, too, if they think they are to become slaves to non-beastmen again."

"What about just living in Morgal? You could see your people, at least. You'd be nearby in case of emergencies."

"...That would be satisfactory, yes. But where? Border Town? We would need to live somewhere that I would not be recognized, and with the amount of traffic that goes through that city..."

Matthew nodded.

"I hope this doesn't sound weird," he said, "but this whole conversation has just reminded me of a dream I had when we started dating. It keeps coming back to me. At the time, I thought it was sort of silly, but..."

"But what?"

"Well, the dream went like this," he continued. "We lived in Kolima, in a house of our own. We lived a normal, everyday life. No kingdoms to rule, no monsters to fight. And we had kids, too. Two of them. It was... peaceful, I guess. I don't know how else to put it. But I mean, maybe I'm biased, but I keep coming back to Kolima as a solution."

"Peaceful?" asked Sveta. "I suppose... That hardly seems possible, though."

"If you think about it, though," said Matthew, "it solves our biggest problems nicely. It's in Morgal, right near Belinsk. It's just on the other side of the village of Saha, and since Saha is in the way, people don't tend to go into Kolima unless they live there or specifically have business there. It means you're close enough to Belinsk that you could get there in a day, but that you aren't likely to encounter anyone who's seen you before or knows who you are."

Sveta nodded slowly. "I could preserve my anonymity," she said. "It would keep you safe, but would not keep me from helping my people in times of need. "

"You've never been to Kolima though, right? Because here's the best part: when you get deep enough into the forest to reach the village proper, the trees form a kind of barrier. It seems to keep out the outside world completely. When you're alone, and you listen carefully, all you hear is the rustling of leaves in the canopy far above. It's completely silent," he said. "There's no wind, Sveta. Not ever."

Sveta heard the house shake above them while they lay silently on the floor of the dark, cold cellar, and compared it to the idea of living comfortably in a quiet forest.

"...It sounds too good to be true," she said. "Is it really possible?"

"Is what possible?"

"After all we have gone through, it seems hard to believe that it could be so easy. But having a quiet corner of the world to ourselves to raise a family in..." Sveta nuzzled his neck. "That would be nice."

"There'd be some stuff to get used to," said Matthew. "Neither of us really knows how to live normally. You were raised in a royal setting, and I've basically been an adventurer my whole life. We'd have to learn to settle down. But we could do it. We could be happy," he added, taking her hand in his. "I think we've earned it."

"Perhaps... perhaps we should look into it sometime," said Sveta, trying in vain not to get her hopes up. "Just to see."

"Why wait?" asked Matthew impishly. "Let's go tomorrow. We don't even have to tell anyone. Just leave a note for my parents. 'Bye guys, we're going to go find our happy ending. Will write soon.' Nobody's gonna stop us, nobody will try to talk us out of it."

Her heart's pounding now had nothing to do with her fear of the wind. "We can get up early, pack our things, and just go," she added. "Why not? Yes, sure. That sounds fantastic."

"We can stop in Bilibin on the way and say hi to Rief and Maddie, see how they're doing. 'Hey, nice to see you two, just an FYI, Sveta and I got married like a month ago and now we're eloping to Kolima.'"

Sveta laughed. "We can sneak into Belinsk Castle, too. We can find my old advisor, Bentley, whom I trust well enough to keep a secret. 'Evening, sir, why yes, it is good to be back. Sadly, I shall not be staying, and if anyone asks, I am still kidnapped. Expect stern words from me if my replacement messes up the country!'"

"Well, Kraden's there too," said Matthew. "If anything bad happens, he can tell us, and you can show them how it's done."

"Yes, but I think I would be more comfortable telling someone I trust where I am, just so they do not continue to look for me. Could you imagine a palace guard or something showing up in Kolima in twenty-odd years, surprising us?"

"Heh, yeah. Probably best to have someone on the inside preventing that."

The cacophony continued above, but Sveta barely paid attention to it. Her attention was now miles away. In a certain forest town, specifically.

"I have just one question about your dream," she said. "Can you tell me about our children? I look forward to being able to have a family of our own, or at least to try. I still know not whether it will even be possible." She rubbed her thumb against his palm. "But I would love to meet them, someday, if I can."

"Well, no matter what happens," said Matthew, "I think our oldest son gets to be named after his uncle."

"Volechek the Second..." muttered Sveta. "I would like that."

"Me too."

"Matthew?"

"Hmm?"

"When do you want to start having children?"

"Well, uh..." he stammered. "Maybe once we've settled down for a little while. I'm looking forward to it too, but I'd kind of prefer to have you to myself for a while."

"My thoughts exactly," said Sveta with a grin. She shifted her weight, positioning herself on top of him. "Though do you know what else I am thinking about at this moment?"

"What?"

"If we will not conceive a child right away, that does not mean _practice_ is off the table."

Matthew didn't respond, but Sveta had other ways to tell that he agreed wholeheartedly.

* * *

Most often, there are few immediately noticeable differences between one ruler's reign and the next. But once in a while, the nation is placed in the hands of a person of great ambition, great talent, or both. Paithos was a skilled ruler, but a traditional one. Ayuthay remained a solid, but modest, nation under his command.

As Karis approached the city walls, it was immediately apparent that King Amiti had some changes in mind for his people.

She headed across the new bridge that, while still under construction, was already wide enough for her to safely cross at the same time as a man with a massive, empty cart going in the opposite direction. There were stonemasons hard at work touching-up the outer walls, and the palace itself – which had looked to be a ruin when she saw it for the first time nearly a year prior – had a polish and a majesty to match any other seat of power she had ever seen. It was almost like the Empyror's tower in Tuaparang, but without the fear and malice that ran through every corridor.

Also, it was made of stone instead of steel. Ayuthay was famous for its stonemasonry, not its technology.

Not yet anyway.

"Umm, excuse me?" asked Karis of one of the men painting a brand new stone pillar on the path leading to the palace entrance. He wore no shirt, and his bare chest had a few splotches of blue and white where he had spilled paint. "Could you tell me where King Amiti is, please? I'd like to speak with him."

The man looked up at her with some disdain. Other than Amiti himself, the members of the group – already known in some parts as the Warriors of the Eclipse – were not particularly well celebrated in Ayuthay. They'd visited once or twice, but were not as instrumental or significant here as they were to Morgal or Champa, for example. It made sense that this man wouldn't recognize her. It would have seemed that a random teenager was asking for an immediate audience with the King without any warning.

"He's probably in the undercity somewhere," said the painter. "Look for one of the newer developments, he likes to be on the leading edge. But he's very busy, don't be surprised if-"

She ignored him and headed into the palace proper.

There were wide patches of cloth covering the remains of some of the statues destroyed by Kaocho back in the war. Some of the walls carried deep gouges too, likely caused by the rampage of the Eclipse monsters. It said a lot, in her mind, that Amiti had chosen to refurbish the path toward the palace and expand the undercity before repairing or replacing some of the older pieces of Ayuthay's history. The above-ground sections of the palace were all open for anyone coming or going, and the formerly-locked doors appeared to have been completely removed. What was more, the side passages appeared to have been widened, and cart tracks along the floor indicated that there were probably new ramps leading to the undercity for carts carrying stone or other building materials to traverse.

Karis just took a ladder.

The undercity looked very rough, but in more ways than one; in one sense, there were still tents, garbage, and the signs of wear that indicated that this chamber had held an entire city's population for the duration of the Eclipse. But on the other hand, there were scaffolds, strewn tools, and raw materials to suggest that work was well underway. Rough like a neglected street, but also rough like an uncut diamond.

More shirtless men and dress-clad women moved busily around the area. They all looked like they had places to be. Interestingly, none of them appeared to be merchants; Karis remembered the chamber containing several shops and stores, and they all appeared to have been taken down. They would likely have gotten underfoot during the construction anyway.

A good number of people seemed to be heading in one direction. Karis assumed that was the way to the busiest construction site, and Amiti would likely be in that area. She'd prepared her speech and her proposal ahead of time. Everything she needed was in the airship just outside the city limits. It would be nice to see him again after all this time, but she harbored no illusions in her mind: this was a business trip above all else.

She followed the crowd to the newest tunnel system. At first, she didn't see Amiti. But that was because when the painter told her that the king would be in the newest construction site, she assumed he'd be overseeing the work, or in a different supervisory position.

Not at all. It took some searching, but when she found him, he was right in with the common workers, fitting stones to construct the new tunnel thoroughfare.

She did a double-take when she saw him. And then she lost most of her composure.

The last time she had seen him, he was wearing his adventuring outfit: elaborate, and obviously regal, but it still preserved his modesty. The last time she had seen him shirtless was right when they met him, when he was a pudgy prince who wanted to see what an adventure was like.

Some part of her realized that he had spent most of the past several months training hard to become the groups combat-centric Mercury Adept. He was a master with a bow, and almost her match with a light blade. What he lacked in healing talent compared to Rief, he more than made up in versatility in battle.

The part of her that considered this, though – the rational part – was utterly drowned out by the rest of her, which was thinking nothing but _Holy Gods, that man got in shape, didn't he?_

She didn't know how much time she spent staring – blocking traffic, coincidentally – but he turned and spotted her before she could approach him. He waved, setting his tools aside and standing to meet her. She swallowed, blushed, and waved back.

He drew near her, and she completely forgot her pitch. It was to begin with something along the lines of, "Good afternoon, King Amiti. I have a proposal for you." Straight and to the point, respectful, and it set the tone for a professional meeting, letting him know that she wanted to get things done instead of simply catching up.

But she did not give her prepared speech. Instead what she said, after working her mouth uselessly for a second, was "Hiya."

Smooth, Karis.

"Afternoon, Karis!" replied Amiti, wiping his dusty hands on his pants. "It IS afternoon, isn't it? I've been down here since this morning, I have no idea what time it is outside."

She nodded. "Umm, yeah," she said. "So, er... hi." Her eyes kept snapping back to his chest and abdomen, which appeared firm, worked, and slightly glistening with the sweat of a good day's work.

Amiti followed her gaze and blushed. "Oh! Sorry," he said. "I know you aren't accustomed to the Ayuthay style of dress. I can take a break for now, just follow me, I'll put on a shirt, and we can catch up." He waved an apology to some of the men he was working with and set off back through the tunnels.

"That might help," admitted Karis, moving to follow him. "Thanks. Uh, sorry about that."

"Don't worry. If I'd known you were coming, I might have prepared."

"It was kind of spur-of-the-moment."

"You walked from Kalay to Ayuthay just on a whim?" asked Amiti, weaving through a crowd that smiled and saluted him as he passed. "That's dedication."

"I mean, it wasn't a whim, I had... a proposal, I think..." Karis trailed off, watching the way his back muscles worked as he led the way through the undercity's maze of passages. Gods, was she really that sheltered? "Can we talk when we're alone? A lot's obviously happened, and it'd probably best if we have each other's full attention- I mean, if we could pay full attention to the conversation."

"Of course," replied Amiti, who luckily didn't look back in time to see her face glowing bright red with embarrassment.

When they reached the royal meeting room, Amiti gestured for Karis to take a seat, disappearing into another room and reappearing a minute later, fully clothed. He looked exactly as Karis remembered, if with slightly longer hair now.

"I'm really, really sorry about that," Karis said. "It's just been a while, I guess, since I saw that much of a guy I knew... I mean, umm... Y'know."

"Don't worry," said Amiti, waving away her concerns. "I was sort of the same when I got back at first. It just isn't customary for men to wear shirts here, for the most part, and even though I grew up thinking that was the norm, it was a bit of a shock after seeing everybody fully clothed for so long."

"Yup, I get that," said Karis. "You've, uh, gotten in pretty good shape. Since I last saw you shirtless, I mean. Not that you were really out of shape, I should say-"

"No, I was, though!" said Amiti. "I was downright chubby when we met the first time. It was hard, but I knew I needed to be on par with the rest of the group. I learned a lot in my time out in the world with you. I learned about the value of hard work and motivation, and now that I have a country to rule, I'm applying those lessons to the fullest extent."

"That's why you were out there doing the manual work instead of just supervising?"

"I'm pretty convinced now that anyone who claims to be supervising is just taking the easy way out," agreed Amiti. "I can lead just as easily from the front, and I find that nothing builds morale like setting a good example. The fact is, Ayuthay came out of the Eclipse better than almost anyone else on the continent. It's our responsibility as a people to set the pace for the rest of Ei-Jei. We're already providing relief efforts to Sana, and even to Kaocho. Ayuthay needs a strong leader who can make the most of this time of recovery. I'm working just as hard as anyone else is, and that inspires everyone to give it their all." He scratched his head. "In theory, I mean. I'm doing my best. I want to honor Paithos's memory by being a great king. "

Karis laughed. "I'm certain you'd make him proud. Wow, all this coming from the guy who basically set out with us because he had nothing better to do? You've grown, Amiti. I like it."

Amiti gave her a gentle but sincere smile. "I'm glad you approve."

"Oh, actually," said Karis, "that reminds me of why I'm here. It was a spur-of-the-moment visit, but it definitely wasn't just whimsy. Long story short, I got my hands on a crapton of Tuaparang research data. I've spent the past two months or so working away at applying it all, and I've made a whole lot of progress, but there's only so much I can do alone."

"Tuaparang research data?" asked Amiti. "Sounds like you've got a story to tell."

She shrugged. "Yeah, we had a short-but-eventful outing a while back. Tuaparang made a push, we fought back and destroyed them once and for all." She paused. "It was... costly. More costly than anything we've ever done. But it's over now, and like I said, I got the chance to collect a good portion of their notes. I've been trying to decipher their technology."

"And you need a sponsor," finished Amiti for her, "so you can get access to certain rare or valuable materials for your research."

"Exactly," said Karis. "I don't want to take advantage of your generosity, of course. I'd be more than happy to place a higher priority on figuring out stuff that Ayuthay needs first-"

"That won't be necessary. You're my friend, and I'd do this as a favour anyway. Anything the nation gets out of it is just a perk."

"Aww, that's sweet of you. But don't worry, it'll be worthwhile. You know how I got to Ayuthay?" asked Karis rhetorically. "I flew here. On an airship. I didn't build it all by myself, but it was practically a wreck when I laid my hands on it, and I repaired it using the things I learned from my notes. What's more, with a little help from Rief's mother Mia, I managed to build what amounted to a full set of prosthetic legs for Karst-"

"Who's Karst?"

"She's, umm... nevermind. Complicated."

Amiti smiled. "Well, whatever you say. It sounds exciting. If you need somewhere to stay, I can find a place in the palace for you. I can probably set aside a room as a research lab, even. I'd gladly host you. It's nice just to have you around."

She blushed and smiled. "Thanks. It's nice to be here."

He looked away. "It's a shame that the world has seen so much sadness lately," he said. "I heard what happened to Sveta. I don't know what to say."

Karis paled. "You... you heard?"

"Yes," he said. "Abducted in broad daylight, and her people have no idea where she is or if she's even still alive. I wish I could send people to search for her myself, but Morgal is just too far away..."

After sighing with relief, Karis burst out laughing. "Oh, that! No, nonono! Don't worry! She's..." Karis lowered her voice to a whisper. "Is anyone listening? This is kind of hush-hush."

Amiti glanced around before leaning in. "We're alone, as far as I know," he whispered back. "Why? What's going on? Is Sveta alright?"

"Better than alright!" laughed Karis. "Okay, real talk. The Tuaparang kidnapped her almost two months ago. That was what set off the adventure I was talking about. She escaped literally the next day. The thing is, she and Matthew hooked up, and they just haven't gotten around to telling the beastmen that she's okay!"

"_What?!_ Are you serious? Matthew and Sveta got together?!"

"Yeah! Oh gods, last I saw of them, they were making a beeline for Kolima," said Karis. "I think they literally plan to elope. No idea what they're gonna do about Belinsk, but I don't think she's going back."

Amiti's jaw dropped. "That's... That's so irresponsible, and yet _so Sveta._ Wow, her and Matthew... I mean, in retrospect, they WERE kind of all over each other-"

"That's what everyone keeps saying!"

"-But yeah, didn't expect that. Belinsk seems to be recovering alright, actually. Not as quickly as they were when Sveta was still on the throne, but they'll survive without her, easily."

"That's good news," said Karis. "I think she'll want to hear that, in fact. Once I get set up here I need to make a few trips, and I'll be sure to stop by and visit them on the way. I need to see Eoleo, too, I have this method of indoor irrigation that I think will be revolutionary for Champa-"

"How are you handling this, though, if you don't mind me asking?" said Amiti. "I don't want to kill the mood, but... Matthew with Sveta? Weren't you and him, uh...?"

"Huh?"

Amiti blushed. "Nevermind. I guess it was nothing, I just... I must have assumed-"

"Oh, you mean... oh." Karis frowned. "Yeah, no, Matthew and I were never together. To be honest... I guess I kinda had a thing for him for a while. But I'm over that. I'm just happy that everything's turning out so well for him and Sveta. They're kind of adorable together."

"Wow, heheh. And here I thought you were spoken for." Amiti cleared his throat. "I mean... nevermind. I'm glad you came to visit, and I look forward to hearing more about what happened. For now, I should probably get back to work, though. I'll find some people to assign you your rooms, and I'll get someone to help fetch your equipment and your notes."

"That's fine, and that'd be great. Thanks."

"Make yourself at home. And if you don't have anything else going on," he said, "maybe you'd like to join me for dinner tonight? If you plan to live in Ayuthay for the foreseeable future, it only makes sense for me to throw you a welcoming party."

Karis smiled. "I'd like that. I'll see you then."

Amiti grinned at her and waved goodbye, heading for the door to get back to work.

It struck Karis as odd that she hadn't even thought of her failed crush for such a long time. She'd admired Matthew since she was little, and yeah, she'd been bitter at first when Sveta won him over. But it seemed better this way. It felt so normal already for Matthew and Sveta to be a pair that she practically thought of them as a single unit now. With all of the research and experimentation Karis had been doing, she'd paid them little attention anyway. As long as she got to go to their wedding she'd be fine.

Yes, Matthew was long gone from her mind. It had been silly to dwell on one guy for so long, she thought.

She leaned forward, peeking out the open door.

Amiti took off his shirt and tossed it aside, hurrying through another doorway to rejoin the crowds, his every movement demanding the respect and admiration of those around him.

Yes, there were plenty of other fish in the sea.

* * *

_Knock, knock, knock._

The door opened, and light streamed into the otherwise dark hallway. Matthew removed his hood, realizing that it would be wise to avoid spooking the famously skittish squirrel-man.

"Sir Matthew?" yelped Bentley, who jumped with so much surprise that his nightcap actually bounced an inch off his head before falling back into place. "What are you doing here at this time of night? Do you have word of the Queen?"

Matthew nodded. "That was actually what I came to talk to you about." He stepped aside, revealing the other dark, hooded figure standing in the shadows.

Sveta pulled her hood back very slightly – not enough to reveal herself if someone happened to come by, but enough that her former aide could see her face.

Bentley replied with a cartoonishly wide, buck-toothed smile. "Your Majesty!" he began to cry.

In an instant, Sveta was across the hallway, one hand clamped over his mouth. "Not now!" she said. "Someone may hear." She inclined her head toward her aide's room. "Inside."

The squirrelman nodded shakily. He led the way inside, and Matthew closed the door behind them.

Sveta pulled her hood off the rest of the way and let Bentley go, but put a finger to her lips to remind him to stay quiet.

"How fares Morgal in my absence?" asked Sveta. "I have heard little news."

"Your nation is thriving, Your Majesty," barely-whispered Bentley. "We're seeing less growth than we did when you oversaw matters directly, of course, but all things considered, we're well on our way to a full recovery!"

"What of the war?"

Bentley blinked. "That, umm, ended."

"I know, we were involved in Bilibin's revolution."

"Really?"

"Yes."

"But that was months ago! You were abducted! Were you really free all this-"

"_Yes._"

Matthew laughed. He had no idea what Sveta's plans were for this meeting... beyond the way it was going to end, of course.

"All I know of the war," said Sveta, "is that Morgal was apparently winning anyway. How is that possible? Bilibin was prepared for the Eclipse."

"I'm sorry to say that I know little about that issue," replied Bentley. "The majority of the war efforts were organized by a single soldier. He apparently employed a very successful guerilla campaign with only a very small group."

"One soldier?" asked Sveta. "Is he in the castle? I would like to meet him."

Bentley frowned. "I'm sure the feeling is mutual," he said, "but he was one of the soldiers who left the country to search for you. He's sure to return before long, though."

"What a shame. I suppose it is just as well, though," she said. "I would like to limit knowledge of this as much as possible."

"Your Majesty?"

"I admit I was still uncertain on this issue until you told me how well Morgal was doing," Sveta declared, "but now there is no doubt in my mind. I shall not be returning to retake the throne. Thank you for keeping the nation steady in my absence, and for continuing to do so in the future."

Bentley's mind broke.

"What."

Sveta smiled sweetly. "You have done such a good job that I cannot bear to take this responsibility away from you!" She stepped toward Matthew and wrapped her arms around him, planting a kiss on his cheek. "I will be retiring to Kolima Village with my new husband. We shall remain there in case of an emergency. We were married in secret, but consider this an invitation to out official wedding, whenever it takes place."

"_Whaaaaaaaaaat._"

"Oh, calm down. You have done well, and as before, I invite you to find a replacement if you yourself cannot handle the duties associated with ruling Morgal," she said. "You grasp, of course, that news of my survival must be kept quiet at all costs. This must be our little secret."

Bentley whimpered.

"Thank you for being so understanding," said Sveta. "Good luck." Then to Matthew, she said, "Coming, my love?"

For the squirrelman's benefit (or rather, quite the opposite), Matthew swept Sveta up in a startlingly passionate kiss. She seemed surprised at first, but reciprocated heavily before long. He pulled her hood back up, then they pulled apart and he opened the door for her. She moved through into the hall.

"Umm! Wait..." said Bentley, practically vibrating through sheer nervousness. "If, if you change your mind, and you decide you want the throne back, it's fine! Just tell me whenever!"

"Thank you, Bentley," said Sveta.

"Seriously, any time! If you want the power and recognition back... or, I mean, any of your line, if they want it, I'll make sure you can take it back! We love our royal family very much!"

"I appreciate the offer, Mr. Bentley," said Sveta. "Goodbye!"

Matthew shut the door behind them.

And just like that, Sveta was finally, truly free.

* * *

**Ten years after Tuaparang.**

* * *

"So what do you think?" asked Matthew. "Good idea?"

Sveta nodded. "Acceptable," she said. "I feel like it could have worked out a bit better, though."

"I think it looks great, and I also think she won't care how it looks." He stuck out a finger and swept up a bit of icing from the edge, popping it into his mouth. "It tastes great, and it's vaguely sword-shaped. She'll love it."

He deftly placed five candles into the "hilt" of the cake, then turned and went to the window.

Young Volechek was carefully working the knobs on one of his little sister's new birthday presents while she excitedly watched over his shoulder. Karis had sent Emily a fancy gadget, a sort of miniature airship that one could control via a small magic box. Vol had been the first one to figure out how to work it properly, and now he was showing his sister how it was done. The toy airship floated gracefully through the forest clearing.

Before long, she seized the box from his hands and cranked a knob to maximum. The airship spun wildly, flipped upside-down, and crashed.

"Aww, hell," said Matthew as he watched. "I hope that thing's durable."

"Did she crash it already?" Sveta asked with more resignation than surprise.

Matthew nodded. "We can figure it out later," he said. Then he opened the window and called the kids back inside.

He went to light the candles, but before he could begin, he felt a weak pulse of psynergy from outside. He turned to look, and Vol had fallen flat on his face. He was scrambling to get up and shouting something at his sister, who ignored him and raced past him toward the house.

Matthew felt a very uncomfortable feeling of deja vu.

"Is something wrong?" asked Sveta.

"Hmm? Oh, nothing, I just-"

Then he heard Emily crying outside the front door, and he and Sveta ran out to see what was wrong.

She'd fallen and lightly scraped her knee. It was nothing serious, and she forgot about it a minute later when she saw her sword-shaped birthday cake. She hopped up into her chair and waited impatiently for the rest of the family to take their places.

"Five years old already," whispered Matthew to his wife. "Can you believe it?"

Sveta shook her head. "Gods, but it feels far longer than that," she joked.

Matthew laughed. A torrent of memories flooded into his mind. Moving into their new house. Their official wedding, which saw three full royal entourages arriving in Kolima Forest in secret. The look on Sveta's face when she told him she was expecting a child. Anniversaries. Birthdays. Winter, spring, summer, fall. All peaceful, all blissful. For once, everything was as it deserved to be.

He lit the candles, they all sang, and Emily blew them out. Sveta cut the cake and served it. There was laughter and celebration in the air.

In between bites of cake, Emily leaned over to Vol and whispered: "Technically, I still beat you home."

Matthew felt a sudden feeling of dread.

Sveta tapped him on the shoulder, and he turned to face her.

For some reason he associated this moment very strongly with _pain._ Why?

His wife reached out and put her hand on his neck.

She pulled him down.

He cringed, expecting to feel the crack of his nose against the floor.

Instead, her lips met his.

Okay, he was fine with this.

"Guys, new birthday rule," said Emily sternly. "No kissing at the dinner table."

* * *

_AUTHOR'S NOTES:_

"_For this is the end, I've drowned and dreamt this moment, so overdue I owe them..."_

_ -Adele, "Skyfall Theme"_

_'Kay, now it's ACTUALLY over. Gonna start working on Chronicles and Means to an End shortly, MtE chapter 2 is about 3/4 done already but I have a few minor edits to do too before I put it up._

_...It might also be a while because I had planned to take November off for NaNoWriMo, and I still want to get some work done on my project for that. But it turns out that writing original material can be really tough, and I got sick enough of doing research and plotting character arcs that I decided to take a break and write this 15k word epilogue. I'm sure that will happen again before the month is out. Seriously, I can sit down for two hours and write 3000 words of fanfics, or I can sit down for two hours and write 500 words of original content._

_Anyway, I think this is a nice, long chapter. I think I wrapped up all the loose ends. If not, tell me and I'll fix it later. If any of you are particularly confused by that last section, go back and re-read the opening of Chapter 7._

_Thanks for reading!_

_Oh, and stay tuned for the sequels._


End file.
